570 

135 

118 

•py 1 



D 570 
.035 
1918 
Copy 1 



PERSONAL EXPLANATION-WAR CABINET 



SPEECH 

OF 

HON. GEORGE E. CHAMBERLAIN 

OF OREGON 

IN THE 

SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 



JANUARY 24, 1918 



9r 



a8227— 1814G 



WASHINGTON 

€OVERNMENT PUINTING OFFICE 

1918 



/ 



SPEECH 

OF 

H0:N'. GEOEGE E. CIIx^MBERLAm. 



The bill (S. S583) to establish a war cabinet and to define the juris- 
diction and authority thereof was on its second reading. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. President, I rise to a question of 
personal privilege. 

Ml'. President, for 24 years of my life I have served the people 
of my State in one capacity or another to the best of an ability 
with which ProVidence saw fit to endow me, and in all that time 
I have never had my veracity called in question nor my integ- 
rity impeached, and I am frank to say that I have passed 
through some campaigns as bitter as have fallen to the lot of 
any man. It is therefore with some feeling of humiliation, and 
I may say of sadness, that I rise before this distinguished body 
to a question of personal privilege when my veracity has for 
the first time Ueeu called in question — not by an ordinary citizen 
in the ordinary walks of life — not by one of my colleagues, who 
stands upon the same level au myself socially and politically, 
but by a very distinguished gentleman who has the love and 
admiration of the people of this country, and who through their 
suffrage now occupies the highest place in the gift of our people, 
and I may say the highest place of any man on the face of the 
earth. 

It is, therefore, with a peculiar feeling that I rise to address 
myself to the attack which has been made upon me, Sir. Presi- 
dent, and I do it not with any feeling of unkindness, because the 
personal differences between the distinguished Presid'^nt and 
myself amount to nothing to the American people, but there are 
great policies at issue between us and between other people of 
this country, a proper settlement of which may, IMr. President, 
involve the very life of the Republic, and possibly the civiliza- 
tion of the world. 

Some days ago a distinguished body of citizens invited me to 
deliver an address before the National Security League in New 
York. I accepted that invitation. On the dais with me were 
some of the best known men and women in America. The pre- 
siding officer of that meeting was a gentleman whom our distin- 
guished President has seen fit to honor, and who has been highly 
honored by other Executives in the days gone by. I refer to Hon. 
Elihu Root. 

On my right sat Judge Alton B. Parker, who was once a can- 
didate of our party for the Presidency. On the left of the pre- 
siding ofticer was -i very distinguislied Republican friend of 
mine and a friend of his country, though born in a country that 
is now at war with America, Hon. .Tuuus Kahn, of California. 
To his left was a distinguished ex-President of the United States 
2 38227—18146 



D. of D. 
FEB 4 1918 



\ ^ 



In the person of Col. Roosevelt. The widow of ex-President 

Clevelfind was there, and. Mr. President, I say withont fear of 
contradieition tliat the 2.000 people there represented every 
walk of life and a spirit of patriotism that can not he excelled 
in a like nnmber of people anywhere in the United States. 

In the nniltitude of work that has fallen to my lot it was 
impossible for me to prepare an address, and I did not even 
have time to correct the proof or revise it after it was delivered. 
It was reported in the New York Times in what appeared to be a 
verbatim report, and I assume the responsibility of the speech as 
printed in that paper. If there are any inaccuracies of diction 
or grammar I trust that under the circumstances the Senate 
will overlook them. Inasmuch as it formo the text of the charge 
against me of having distorted the truth I am going to ask 
that the Secretary may be permitted to read it. It is not very 
long. I dislike to burden the Senate with it, but I want the 
Senate to have the context of what I said in connection with 
what the distinguished President of the United States complains 
of in his public statement. 

The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there objection? The Chair 
hears none and the Secretary will read. 

The Secretary read as follows: 

" I assure you it is a very great pleasure and privilege to be 
permitted to be with you to-day, because I feel that we are all 
engaged in the same great work — the work of the preservation 
not only of our country, but the preservation and perpetuation of 
civilization itself. Let me disclaim, my friends, any credit 
for what has been accomplished and for what we hope to 
accomplish in the great task that confronts us in this emer- 
gency. Let me say to you that I have had the coopei-ation and 
effort of the great mass of the Members of Congress without re- 
gard to party ; and in addition to that, and above and over every- 
thing else, we have had the support of such distinguished men as 
the ex-President and ex-Commander in Chief of the Armies and 
Navies of the United States, and such men as my friend, Mr. 
Elihu Root, all of whom are here with us to-day. 

•* In season and out of season these distinguished gentlemen 
liave gone out among the people and have tried to impress upon 
them, and they have begun to realize, that America, for the first 
■time in its history, is involved in a war which may, my friends, 
mean its life and its dissolution unless America and her allies 
bapjien- to be successful in it. 

" Because of the limitation upon my time, and I know you are 
all glad of it [cries of 'No! No!'] it is absolutely impossible 
to go into this subject as I would love to go into it wifh you. and 
to discu.ss the military policy of the United States, or its lack of a 
militai-y policy, since the earliest Revolutionary time. It has 
not been the fact that we have had a faulty military policy 
during all of those years; it has been, my friends, that we have 
had no military policy that has led us into these iroublo'is times 
and conditions. We are wont to talk of the magnificont courage 
of our forefathers, but it has often seemed to me that the most 
unfortunate thing that ever happened in this country was the 
fact that an unorganized militia at Bunker Hill was able to 
defeat an organized army of Great Britain, because there wa» 
3Sii27— 1S14G 



then establishefl what was later to be called the trarlitional policy 
of the United States against the oi-ganization of a standing army, 
or. rather, of a trained army to be called into service wlienever 
the emergency required. 

" BANE OF ' TRADITIOXAL POLICY.' 

" From that day to this the histories of our country have talked 
about the traditional policies of the United States, and have 
commended the valor of the Revolutionary troops. I have no 
disposition to ci'iticize that statement or to question the valor— 
the individual valor — of the splendid men who fought the bat- 
tles of the Revolutionary days, but the lack of organization 
which was decried by the commanding officers then and which 
has been deci'ied by them since, and has been criticized, are the 
troubles which confront us to-day; and if their recommenda- 
tjoiis had been followed we not only would have had a splendid 
Army now, but that Army would have been organized and raised 
under a system of universal military training that would have 
made us absolutely unconquerable. 

" Washington called attention to it, and I have sometimes won- 
dered how that distinguished connuander of the American forces, 
with his splendid aid, Alexander Hamilton, ever had time to 
organize an Army because they devoted much of their time to 
appeals to a Continental Congress and to the States to assist 
them in organizing an Army that might be successful in accom- 
plishment of victory. I wish I could go into these matters and 
discuss the various battles that were fought ; but, incidentally. 
Jet me tell you that America did not owe the accomplishment of 
victory in 17S3 to her untrained Army, but she owed it to France 
and the splendid efforts that France made. 

" With all the pacifists that are abroad in the land denouncing 
America for sending a few hundred thousand men or a million 
men to France in this day of rapid transit, it is well to remember 
that when America, on account of Washington's efforts, ap- 
pealed to France for assistance, she sent to us under Rocharabeau 
five or six thousand troops across the water, and instead of taking 
them five or ten days or two weeks to reach America, they were 
seventy-seven days from the time they left a French port until 
they landed at Newport, R. I., afflicted with disease, and chased 
every foot of the way by a British fleet. My friends, if America 
had nothing else to fight for in this war than to preserve the 
magnificent French Republic, every drop of blood shed and every 
dollar of treasure spent would be well spent for this splendid 
people. 

" I am going to skip through it all, because my time is almost 
up now. We have got to get out of here at 3 o'clock, mind you. 

"Traditional policy? It seenj« to me that a war policy called 
for by Washington and advocated by him would sustain a policy 
now of training young men to do battle for their country. We 
have departed from traditional policy, thank God. and in the last 
two years we have enacted a law that, as your chairman has said, 
compels Americans to know that the benefits of citizenship carry 
with them the responsibility for service whenever that service 
happens to be needed. 

" VICIOUS VOT.UNTEER STSTEM. 

"The selective draft law which has been mentioned here, put 
into service every man between 21 and 30 ; and it may be said 
3S227— 1S146 



6 

to the credit of those younp; men who have been drafted that 
they are reiulei-inj: Just as effective and just as patriotic service 
as those who liave volunteered. I sometimes regret that volun- 
teerinj; has ever been pt^rniitted, for the reason that in the U)ss 
that we sustain in tlie 1)attles wliere there is a volunteer sys- 
tem, as there was in Great Britain, we have a horizontal 
loss, takini? the young, red-blooded people that volunteer for 
service and leaving tliose who ought to have shared the fate 
of their colleagues at the first sound of war. On the other hand, 
under thi.s sy.stem we take from the walks of industrial and 
connnercial and everyday life young men of all classes, so that 
there is not this horizontal loss that I speak of. but rather a 
perpendicular loss, where the high and the low, the rich and 
the poor, the professional man and the artisan, stand shoulder 
to shoulder, and when losses come, the loss falls on all, evei*y 
social stratum of life. 

*• Let me tell you that we are going to extend that. We are 
going to commence to train the young men from 18 to 21, so that 
when they become 21 we will have an army of young men to draw 
fi'om from every walk of life. 

" But, say the pacifists, it is unnecessary in the United States 
to train the young men or to have an army. My friends, there 
were those in Great Britain who said it was unnecessary; and 
yet. but for the fact that republican France traineii her young 
men, what would have become of France when the Gei-man forces 
went down and attacked her on her western front ? Nothing 
saved her but the universal military training which that splendid 
Republic had in vogue. Ah. my friends, let us get away from 
our prejudices. When those who now advocate universal mili- 
tary training began to advocate it nobody was with them; now 
the country, thank God, is with them, and the country will see 
to it that Congress gets with them, too. 

" Now, in conclusion, and I have only touched a few of the high 
spots, let me say that the Military Establishment of America has 
fallen down. There is no use to be optimistic about a thing tlwt 
does not exist. 

" EVERY DEPARTMENT INEFFICIENT. 

" It has almost stopped functioning, my friends. Why? Be- 
cause of inefficiency in every bureau and in every department of 
the Government of the United States. [Applause.] We are 
trying to work it out. I speak not as a Democrat, but as an 
American citizen. 

"A Voice. You are telling the truth. Senator. 

"We are trying | Senator Chajmreulain continued], and I 
liave burned the midnight oil in an effort to do it — we are trying 
to centralize the power of supplying the Army in one man who 
can say ' No ' and lias the nerve to say ' No ' when the time 
comes to say it. We have reported a bill, following tne j'^'pe- 
rience of Great Britain and France, creating a director ct muni- 
tions for this pui-pose. We have gone one step further and we 
have provided a bill for the creation of a cabinet of war, who.-.p 
duty it shall be (o lay out what we never have had, and have 
not now — a piogram to carry on this war to a successful conclu- 
sion. My friends, this is not an Administration nieasui-e ; it is 
an American measure, and comes from Republicans and Demo- 
crats alike. 

3S227— 18146 



e 

" I want this splendid audience, I want the citizenry of New 
York, I want you, Mr. Chairman, and all of you. to set behind 
these proposed laws and see to it that tliey grace the statute 
books of America, so that America may play her part in the 
war. Let us, my friends, rally to the flag of our country 
without regard to party. Let us see to it that ihe Stvirs -lud 
Stripes are planted upon the plains of France and be there, as 
it is here, the emblem of freedom, liberiy, and the rights of niau. 
" Your flas and my flag, and how it flies to-day. 
In your land and my land, and half the world away, 
Rose-red and blood-red, the stripes forever gleam, 
!<now-white and soul-while, the good forefathers' dream, 
Sky-blue and true-blue with stars that gleam aright 
A glorious guidon of the day, a shelter through the night. 

"And so, my friends, whether our flag be planted here or in 
France, or wherever it may be, let us see that it is the emblem 
•of a better civilization and a better form of government. 1 
tliank you." 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. President, that address was de- 
livered on the 19th of this month. I returned to Washington 
the next day, and in tlie evening of that day I received from the 
President of the United States a letter, which I send to the desls 
and ask the Secretary to read. 

Tlie VICE PRESIDENT. Is there objection? The Chair 
hears none, and the Secretary will read as requested. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

The White House, 
Washington, 20 January, lOlS. 

Mr Deaii Sin : You are reported in the New York World of this 
morning as having said at a luncheon in New York yesterday : 

"The Military Establishment of America has fallen down; there is 
no use to be optimistic about a thing that does not exist; it has almost 
stopped functioning. Why? Because of inefficiency in every bureau 
and in evf.^ry department of the Government of the United States. I 
speak not as a Democrat, but as an American citizen." 

I would be very much oblised if you would tejl me whether you were 
correctly quoted. I do not like to comment upon the statements made 
before learning from you yourself whether you actually made them. 
Very truly, yours, 

WooDBOw Wilson. 

Hon. Geokgh E. Chamberlain, 

United States Senator. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. President, I received that letter 
too late to attempt to answer it last Sunday evening, but the 
first thing tlie next morning, and as soon as my office force came 
down. I dictated a letter to the President, and I ask to have that 
letter read into the Record. 

The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, the secretary 
will read as requested. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

January 21, 1018. 

My Dear Mr. President : I received last evening your favor of the 
20th instant, in which you advise me that I was quoted in the New 
York World of same date with your letter as follows: 

"The Military Establishment of American has fallen down: there 
is no use to be optimistic about a thing that does not exist ; it has al- 
most stopped functioning. Why? Because of inefficJencv in every 
bureau and in every department of the Government of the United 
States. I speak not as a Democrat, but as an American citizen." 

You desire to know if I am correctly quoted, inasmuch as you do not 
like to comment upon the statements made before learning from me 
whether I actually made then). 

In reply permit me to say that the words quoted are substantially 
those used by me My address on the occasion referred to was extem- 
poraneous and without notes, but the New York Times of yesterday 
38227— 1814C 



morning purports to give a verbatim report of all the addresses made, 
and I beliovc the report made is substautiaily correct. In that I am 
quoted as saying, in part : 

" Now, in conclusion, and I have only touched a few of the high spots, 
let me say that the Military Establishment of America has fallen down. 
There is no use to be optimistic about a thing that does not exist. It 
has almost stopped functioning, my friends. Why? Because of iuef- 
flciency in every department of the Government of the United States. 
We are try.ng to woris it out. I speak not as a Democrat, but as an 
American citizen." 

Vou will note that there is very little difference between the two re- 
ports, and, in view of the fuller report in the Times, I am inclined to 
believe it correctly quotes me. 

Rut, Mr President, may f beg that you will do me the honor to 
read the whole of what 1 said in order that the part quoted may have 
its proper setting'? I only had '20 minutes allotted me, and in that 
brief time unrtortooli to show that since the Battle of Bunker llili we 
had never had a proper military organization or policy and that our 
troubles now are largely due to that fact. I was only discussing the 
military policy, or lack of such policy, from the earliest days of the 
Republic, and immediately following the language last quoted I said : 

" We are trying, my friends, and I have burned the midnight oil in 
an effort to do it — we have tried to centralize the power of supplying 
the Army in one man who can say • no,' and has the nerve to say ' no' 
when the time comes to say it. We have reported a bill, following the 
experience of Great Britain and France, creating a director of muni- 
tions for thi purpose. We have gone one step further, and we have 
provided a bill for the creation of a cabinet of war, whose duty it shall 
be to lay out what we never have had — and have not now— a program 
to carry on this war to a successful conclusion. My friends, this is 
not an administration measure ; it is an American measure and comes 
from Kepublicans and Democrats both." 

All present understood the criticism, and you will note that ex- 
Tresident Roosevelt in his speech shortly following mine made substan- 
tially the same criticism of conditions during the Spanish-American 
War, although, as he said. " It wjis waged by an administration of 
which I was a part and in which I afterwards became even more closely 
■connected." 

I have been connected with the Committee on Military Affairs of 
the Senate ever since I have been a Member of the Senate, and have 
taken a very deep interest in military legislation, and 1 believe 1 
know something about the deficiencies in the Military Establishment. 
Since Congress convened the committee have been diligently at work 
endeavoring to find out actual conditions and to find some remedy for 
recognized or proven deficiencies in our military system. The testi- 
mony of witnesses in and out of the establishment clearly establishes 
the ifact, Mr. President, that there are inefficiencies in the system that 
ought to be remedied for a proper prosecution of the war. and, further, 
that there are and have been inefflcients connected with the admin- 
istration of a disjointed and uncoordinated establishment. So feeling 
and so believing. 1 have felt it my duty to speak out. in the hope that 
defects in the military code may be cured and inefflcients later weeded 
out. 1 will be glad to .ioin with otiier members of the committee aud 
go over the situation with you at any time, if you desire it. and re- 
view the testimcny which, taken in connection with an inherited defi- 
cient system, led me to the conclusion expressed in my short extem- 
poraneous address to which you call my attention. 

I have the honor to remain, yours, very sincerely. 

Geo. E. Chamberlain. 

President Woodkow Wil.son, 

The White House. 

Mr, CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. President, to that letter I re- 
ceived no reply ; I do not know that any reply was necessary ; 
but on the afternoon of that day — last Monday— there was 
printed in the evening papers, and generally printed throughout 
the United States, a statement by our distinguished President, 
and I assume that that is the answer to the letter. The press was 
kind enough, small as I am compared with our distinguished 
President, to print with his statement a very brief statement 
which I made to them upon reading the President's statement. 
T ask that both be read, Mr. President. 

The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered. 
38227—18146 



8 



The Secretary read as follows : 

DOCUMENTS 1\ CLASH ON POLICY. 

[Washington lieralil, Jan. 122.] 



By WooDROw WiLsox. 

SpDator Chambbi!Lain"s state- 
ment as to the present inaction 
and ineffectiveness of the (iovern- 
ment Is an astonishing antl abso- 
lutely nnjustiflaljle distortion of 
the truth. 

As a matter of fact, the War De- 



By Geouge B. Chamberlain. 

M.v ai'gument was directed to 
the Military Establishment and 
not to the General Government. 
Those who heard me know that. 

I had no prepared speech and 
did not speak from notes. I de- 
livered an extemporaneous address 



partmcnt has performed a task of to the people there, explaining that 
unparalleled magnitude and diffl- since ISunker Ilill we had had 
culty with extraordinary prompt- practically no military organiza- 



ness and efficiency. 

There have been delays and dis- 
appointments and partial miscar- 
riages of plans, all of which have 
leen drawn into the foreground 
and exaggerated by the investiga- 



tion or policy. I discussed the 
subject from that viewpoint for 20 
minutpR. 

I said the Senate Military Com- 
mittee had tried to correct the 
evils by the introduction of the 



tions which have been in progress two new bills. One, written by 



since the Congress assembled- 
vestigations which drew Indispei-s- 
ahle officials of the department 
constantly away from their work 
and afficers from their commands 
and contiibuted a great deai to 
Fuch delay and confusion as has 
inevitably arisen. But by com- 



me. Is the director-of-munltions 
bill. The other, written by a sub- 
committee, is the war-cabinet bill. 

I still stand for both. 

Mr. Baker's efforts to better his 
organization within the Military 
Establishment itself have been 
commendable. He has tried to do 



parison with what has been ac- something. Some improvements 

complished. these things, much as have been made in the system in 

they are to be regretted, were in- vogue. 

significant, and no mistake has But in his plan the inherent 

been made which has been repeated. weakness, in the last analysis, is 

Nothing helpful or likely to that there is no one between the 

speed or facilitate the Avar tasks President and the Army able to 

of the Government has come out act. The new system of Mr. Baker 



of such criticism and investiga- 
tion — 1 have not been consulted 
about them and have learned of 
them only at second hand- -but 
th(>ir proposal came after effective 
measures of reoi-ganization hyii 
been thoughtfully and maturely 



comp'ises the clearance board of 
the War Industries Board and the 
various purchasing departments. 
There is the inherent weakness. 
They can not act. 

The war cabinet and the di- 
rector of munitions have distinct 



perfected, and inasmuch as these and positive power. One maps the 

measures have been the result of progress for the future, the other 

experience, they are much more furnishes supplies fo:- the Army, 

hkely than any others to be effec- Thev constitute a strong link in a 

tive, if the Congress will but re- chain, which is never stronger 

move a few statutory obstacles of th.in its weakest link 

rigid departmental organization We substitute for voluntary 



whi<'h stand in their way 

The legislative proposals 1 have 
heard of would inv.uve long aodi- 
tional delays and ?urn ouv expe- 
rience into mere los* inofioi. 

My association and constant (<'n- 
ference with the Secretary of War 
have taught me to regard him as 
one of the ablest public ofHoials I 
have ever known. The country 
will soon learn whether he or nis 
critics understand the business in 
hand. 

To add. as Senator Chamber- 
lain did, that there is inefficiency 
In every d< partment and bureau of 
the (iovernment is to show such 
Ignorance of actual ''onditions as 
to make it impossible to actach any 
importance to his statement. 

I am bound to Infer that that 
statement sprang out of oppos;rion 
to the administration's whole 
policy rather than out of any seri- 
out Intention to reform Its practice. 
38227—18140 



bodies a strong organization. 

I regret that the administration 
is against the plan. But I will 
proceed with the bills. T feel it 
my duty as a Senator. The people 
of the country are entitled to be 
let into the confidence of the Sen- 
ate Military Committee and the 
committee considers that the bilH 
are necessary in order that the 
war preparations may be coordi- 
nated. 



Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. Presklenf, tlie statement- of the 
Tresident ohnllenges me, of course, to the proof of mv s?-.-temeiit 
as printed in tlie New Yorl, Times, to wliicli I adiiere, and 
which I now repeat. Wlietlier my coUoasues or tlie country 
will tal<e the evidence by its four corners and reach tlie same 
conclusion ihat I liave reached is an entirely different proposi- 
tion. They may not see it from tlie same angle that I eo it. 
Two men may read the same article and draw differenr conclu- 
sions from it. Two men may hear one witness testi.'v an<l dra.v 
diffei'enr inferences from what he said. Those are the 'nherent 
diffei-ences in human nature. But occupying the position at I 
do. IMr. President, as chairman of this great committee, a .!--o- 
ciated as I ha\e been with Democrats and Republican^- -.vho-'e 
single aim and effort has been to develop conditions as they eYi-'t 
without fear or favor or the hope of reward, I fel<- as an 
American citizen, and I feel as a Member of this distinguishcil 
body, that it was my duty to say the thing that was in me. If I 
succeeded. Mr. President, in malcing a rift in the clouds Mud let- 
ting the sunlight inio the dark places where ihc Auierlcau 
people are entitled to go and see, I feel that my efforts and 
the efforts of my colleagues, for whom I enteriain the highL-si 
regard and respect, have not been in vain in an endeavor to 
save our country in the pending crisis. 

The evidence has not yet been printed. That has not been due 
to any fault on tlie part of the conunittee. but, because of its im- 
portance, the testimony of each witness has been senr to him in 
order that he might revise it. and that the country might get the 
evidence as It came from the lips of the witnesses. I liope it will 
be finished to-day. so that the Senate may have it. But now, 
Mr. I'resident. in view of the fact that my "truthfulness has been 
called in question, I feel it my duty, not to go into detail— be- 
cause it would take me days to do that — but to say some things 
here in all kindness, and to tell the country some things that pos- 
sibly I might not have told under ordinary circum.stances until 
the investigation now in progress hail been completed. I shall 
do it as a man who loves his counti-y fii-st of all. a man who would 
sacrifice not only his own life but the life of every member of hi.s 
fr.-nily to save it. I shall do it feai'lessly. and as an American citi- 
zen who wants to help and not hinder the President in this 
emergency. 

I rather think, Mr. President, that it is not that I have dis- 
torted the truth, for I have sometimes feared that in the multi- 
tude of cares and responsibilities that have devolved upon the 
President of the United States he has not been able to ascer- 
tain the truth. If lie has relied upon some of those who have 
come before our committee. IMr. Pi'esident and my fellow Sena- 
tors, lie does not know the truth, and from the lips of some of 
those who have testified and wlio are clo.se.st to him he can not 
find the truth ; not because there has been a disposition to <le- 
ceive or mislead our distinguished Executive possibly, but simply 
because they, too, are so situated, in the multitudinous affairs of 
this great crisis, that they can not ascertain the truth : and even 
If they could ascertain the truth through the labyrinth of tilings 
that pass over their desks and through their offices each day, 
it would be impossible for them to remember it for any pur- 
pose. So this investigation was started, Mr. President, with a 
38227—18146 



10 

purpose to be critical where criticism was necessary and with 
the purpose to be constructive as well ; and this committee 
would not have discharged its duty to the Senate and to the 
country if it had gone about the work with any other pur- 
pose in view than to criticize where criticism was just, and to 
offer suggestions of a constructive nature where that was proper, 

Mr. President, the Secretary of War, in his general state- 
ment to the country — which was cra'efuUy written and pre- 
pared—tells us that $3,200,000,000 have been appropriated for 
the Ordnance Denartment and contract., have been let for 
$1,677,000,000; all of which is true. But the Secretary fails to 
tell us, Mr. President, in his statement to the country, and it 
only comes out in the course cf a cross-examination, that 
America stands to-day unprepared so far as ordnance is con- 
cerned. I challenge anybody to read the testimony and come to 
any other conclusion. Poor, bleeding France, my friends — 
bled white, not only for her own life and for the liberty of her 
own citizens but for America as well — is to-day furnishing 
our troops as they arrive in France the necessary heavy ord- 
nance and machine guns for aircraft and for ground service. 
Why, Mr. President, if we I'elied upon the Ordnance Department 
in this emergency to furnish our troops with the heavy ord- 
nance — and this is largely a war of artillery to-day — the war 
would be over before we ever got to the front. 

Why, there is testimony, if I correctly remember it, before the 
Military Affairs Committee that along some of these fronts the 
cannon — and heavy cannon, if you please — are located 5 yards 
apart for a distance of G miles ; and yet America, this great and 
magnificent country, is dependent upon poor France to deliver 
the ordnance! Did France agree to deliver it in order to win 
over reluctant America? Did she agree to furnish it in order 
to encourage and hearten America? What would happen to 
France with the debacle in Italy, Senators, where her own 
troops are and where the troops of her allies are if she is to 
furnish ordnance to America? What is France to do for them 
in case of an emergency and a desperate battle for the life of one 
of her allies? 

I will not go into details. I do not think it would be proper 
to go into details, but I call to the attention of the Senate the 
confidential evidence of Gen. Crozier himself as to the amount 
of contracts which the Secretary speaks of as having been let, 
and as to the progress of the work. If the administration 
wanted to be fair with the American people — and they are en- 
titled to fair treatment, and to know these things — why <..id 
not the distinguished Secretary, whom I hold in the very 
highest regard as an able and intellectual gentleman, tell 
the American people how long it would take to make deliveries 
under these contracts and let them assist in getting ready for 
this terrible cataclysm that not only confronts America but con- 
fronts the world? 

What has the Ordnance Department been doing since 1914? 
Was there even a half-witted American citizen who at the very 
outset did not know and realize that there was a chance that 
America might become involved? There were omens in the sky, 
my colleagues, that indicated that America would become in- 
voIve<l, notwithstanding her desire to keep out. She could uot 
3821:7—18146 



u 

keep out. What wns the Ordnance Department doins? Nothing. 
Here we were fi-oni August. 11)14. until the declaration of war in 
April, 1917. Willi tlie Orihiance Department ly'inj^ supinely upon 
its back, making no plans, constructinj; no gauges, manufacturing 
no dies, doing al)S()lutely nothing to ascertain what were tli6 
po.ssihilities in raw material and the possihilities of manufacture. 
It would not have takei\ any time, it would not have cost 
much, if anything, to liave done tliat. Congress appropriated 
quite a large sum in two or three appropriation bills for the pur- 
pose of manufacturing dies, jigs, and gauges to be used in the 
construction of all of these implements of artillery warfare. 
That money has not been expended ; and yet every business 
man and every sensible man in this country knows that for 
quantity production it is absolutely necessary to have the 
gauges and the jigs and the dies, so that when ycm are ready 
to manufacture all you have to do is to send them out. so 
that guns may be manufactured along those lines. What 
was tlie Ordnance Department doing? Nothing. 

I am not blaming aTiybody m particular, Mr. President, but 
I am calling attention to facts and blaming an inefficient system. 
I liave a very liigh regard for Gen. Crozier. He has made his 
reputation in the Army, and his life has been spent in the serv- 
ice of Ids country. We have not been able to do what Great 
Britain has done and what France has done and what Italy has 
done and what every one of our allies has been able to do, and 
that is to retire these gentlemen who liave not proved themselves 
up to the mark wlien it comes to getting ready for war. We ought 
not to dismiss them in disgrace, but certainly they ought not to 
be continued in places wliere they have failed, or be promoted 
to higlier rank. France has not liesitated to retire tliem to 
the shades of private life, or to the shades of inactive military 
life, if you please, into positions of innocuous desuetude. Great 
Britain has not hesitated to do it at any time. AVhy should 
America hesitate? 

Senators, it is not a question of the individual or of individu- 
als. This is not a question between the distinguished President 
of the United States and myself. It is a question of America; 
and every man in America ought to forget party, forget individu- 
als, and forget everything, so that his whole thought and his 
whole life and his whole purpose may be devoted not only to the 
protection of the Republic but also to the perpetuation of our 
own institutions and the institutions of the civiiized world, all 
of which are involved. 

Oh, my colleagues and friends, I want you to read this testi- 
mony, and I want you to read it prayerfully and carefully and 
tearfully, if need be. 

Take the question of machine guns. I am not going into the 
merits of any particular gun. That his been an old controversy 
here for years. There are things that can be said on both sides 
of it. Here was the Lewis gun, that was being manufactured in 
America for Great Britain. She had 70,000 of them on the battle 
front, and the testimony of every British soldier that I have seen 
is as to the excellent character of the gun. There are several 
kinds of machine guns. America was manufacturing in large 
numbers and on large contract the Lewis gun for export to (he 
allies and was prepared to turn them out in large quantities. 

38227—18146 



12 

Ami yet. "u-hile we stood alonj? the edge of a seething volcano, we 
were trifling along through the Ordnance Department, trying to 
find a macliine gun. With tliis war on, and America in it. we did 
not even adopt a machine gun until along in May sometime, 
and it was not finally adopted. I believe, until sometime in 
June. Then they adopted another gun — not the Lewis gun. that 
was being used on the battle front in Europe, but a gun that 
was still a gun on paper, and it is a gun on paper to-day — I do 
not care what anybody says about it — because it has never been 
given a field test. It has been developed, Mr. President, that ali 
of these guns have to be experimented with and developed and 
changed and modified in one form or another before tliey can 
finally become an implement of warfare in the proper sense of 
the word. 

It may be that the Browning gun, the one adopted, is the best 
gun. It is an automatic rifle. There are two classes of the Lewis 
gun, one light and one heavy. We are manufacturing the Lewis 
gun, and manufacturing it for aircraft. If they are good for that, 
why could we not have adopted the plans then in vogue, and have 
manufactured the Lewis gun, even if it was not the best ,uun, 
until final tests had discovered the best? They are the modern 
implements of war with heavy artillery, ]\Ir. President, and witlj- 
out them America could not get anywhere. AVe are going to 
use them on the aircraft. The reply to the criticism of the tardi- 
ness in adopting a machine gun. is: "Well, we have thirty or 
forty thousand of them for aircraft, the lighter kind." But, 
Mr. President, what I complain of is that they were not manu- 
factured in large quantities in factories that were then manu- 
facturing them for the British Government and for otlier coun- 
tries. 

I think the Secretary testified in regard to the contracts for 
the Browning gun. Contracts are (mt. and the guns are to be de- 
livered some time at varying dates in the future. I ask you to 
read Gen. Crozier's testimony. I do not want to go into that. I 
do not think it would be proper to go into it ; but we are advised 
that we have got some manufactured. The Secretary testified 
some time during the middle of January that we had nine guns 
at that time — nine Browning guns — nine guns to go up against 
the thousands of the machine guns of Germany. It may be 
that having nine shows that there is now an opportun"ty for 
quantity production, because the gauges may be ready; but we 
have been in the war 30 months, and nothing has been accom- 
plished in the way of securing these guns. 

I noticed in reading the proceedings of the British Parliament 
not long ago — and I tlnnk he was right^a member said, 
"You nee I not be afraid about giving Germany any informa- 
tion." Germany knows more about America to-day than many 
men connected with the department; and so far as I am con- 
cerned, my colleagues. I feel that America would be better off 
if her representatives would come out in the spot light and let 
the plain people of this land know what is being done, and then 
you could rely upon them to rally to the support of the Presi- 
dent for the successful prosecution of this war. Tliere is not 
any question about that. 

Let us now consider the question of rifles. 
38227—18146 



13 

We were furn'sliing Lee-Enfield rifles to the British Govern- 
ment in large numbers. The factories were prepared for thein. 
It is true that Great Britain was trying to make an iiuprovenient 
xipon the rilles used by her when she became involved in the 
war, but when the war came on Great Britain said we will 
not waste any time improving our rilles, but will get them 
out just as fast as we can, and they have been manufacturing 
them ever since. What did America do? With 700,000 ritles in 
America and in our colonial possessions, a motVey group of dif- 
ferent kinds of guns. America was seeking, thi-ongh the Ordnance 
Department, to improve the rifle that Great Britain was manu- 
facturing hei-e and which we could have put out without any 
trouble in the factories. We went to work through tlu- Ordnance 
Department to improve the Enfield rifle. I am frank to say it is 
a great improvement. I believe it is a better gun than the 
English gun, but here while the house was burning America was 
determining through its Ordnance Department what instrumen- 
talities ought to be adopted to put out the fire. It took weeks 
and months before they finally got the Lee-Enfiell rifle into 
condition where the Ordnance Department thought it was all 
right. And after this was agreed upon there were further de- 
lays caused by indecis'on. Here were the engineers of these 
great arms companies, who .got togethei- and finally agreed 
upon n program for the manufacture of these guns, antl con- 
cluded that they would manufacture them with seven inter- 
changeable parts, and they started to manufacture the gauges, 
the .iigs, and dies, and everything necessary for the manufac- 
ture' of guns with seven interchangeable parts. After the Ord- 
nance Department had practically accepted the suggestion, it 
went to work through a distinguished ordnance officer and 
changed the plan from 7 to 40 interchangeable parts, and finally 
raised it to over .50 interchangeable parts, with the result that 
everything had to be stopped for awhile that additional gauges 
might be made. This may have resulted in improvement, but 
why the delay in the midst of the smoke of battle? 

Idr. President, these things were only brought out by this in- 
vestigation. You do not find them elsewhere. Why should not 
the American people be informed of them? Senators, there are 
a lot of people out in the wild and wooly West where I come 
from who. lying back in their cabins and in their homes, per- 
fectly content that America has everything she wants, and they 
are iiot worrying themselves, and they are fathers of boys at 
the front. If they only knew, these mothers and these fathers, 
patriotic citizens of the West, the actual conditions, every one 
of them— every woman and man — would be up and doing and 
ready to give 'their lives and their all for the purpose of pro- 
tecting America. 

The casual reader of the Secretary's statement would con- 
clude that we had everything in the way of ordnance and yet, 
take the testimony of men on the ground like Gen. Greble — we 
only called two or three — we did not want to take them away 
from their duties, and we find the conclusion would not be 
jusffied. Take Gen. Greble, commanding general at Camp 
Bowie. He testified that they have not a single trench mortar. 
They have not machine guus to any appreciable number, not 
3S2:i7— 18146 



14 

enough to train machine-gun men. The testimony of all is that 
the machine-gun man is not wortli anything unless he has had 
some practice witii a machine gun. They have not any howit- 
zers; tliey have not any of the larger caTber guns. Senator^, 
that is true of Camp Bowie, and it is true of nearly every can- 
tonment and regular division in the United States. I am not 
saying it by way of complaining, Mr. President, but I am trying 
to sliow, and I want the American people to realize, that as to 
military program and policy America has none and that her 
military establishment as recently constituted has fallen down. 
If it had not been for the civilian people of this country, If It 
had not been for the men who have come here and g'ven their 
time and their services, we would not have been anywhere. 

I have in what I have said only briefly touched upon the 
Ordnance Department. Now I come to the Quartermaster's 
Department. You would conclude from the statements that 
are printed in the press of the country, that " everything is 
lovely and the goose hangs high," so far as clothing was con- 
cerned, but get on the ground and talk with men who are in 
command of these boys and you will find the conclusion is 
wrong; that is all there is about it. On a per capita basis it 
may be. My friend fi-om Utah [Mi*. Smoot] and I on a per 
capita basis may be worth $100,000. He may have the $100,000, 
but per capita I am worth just as much as he is, and yet I do 
not have anything. On the same test of a per capita basis 
America may have uniforms, but when you come to the proper 
distribution of uniforms they have not had them and they have 
not got them yet. 

I realize the great difficulties that have confronted the Quar- 
termaster General. I am not complaining of him as an indi- 
vidual. He has done the best he could under a faulty systeitl, 
and the President is not responsible for the system. He in- 
herited the system. He has done the best he could. But wje 
are without the clothing just the same. 

Now, I am going to show by Mr. Baker's testimony that he did 
not know it, and that is the reason why I am saying that the 
President, the premier of all the great statesmen of the world, 
if you please, recognized as the leader of thought in this great 
iHternational cataclysm, and I say amen to it, did not know tho 
truth, and I did. I had it fi'om the lips of living witnesses. 
He must have gotten his facts from his distinguished Secre- 
tary of War and he in turn got them from somebody else, and 
if those who furnished the evidence knew the facts, they did 
not tell the whole truth. If the Secretary represented condi- 
tions to the President on their statement he could not have 
given the Pres'dent the whole truth, for he did not know it. 

My statement is challenged, ray integrity is in question. I am 
going to pass around to the Senate some of the pictures taken 
ii. one of these cantonments, of'young men drilling in the cold, 
'in the snow, and working in the trenches and using wooden gutis 
and 'Other ordnance that tb.ey manufacturecl in the camps. That 
is all right; I am not complaining of it, but I am showing the 
facts. If I had a boy going to France to join a machine-gun 
company or an artillery company, I would want him to luu^ 
had some practice with something else than a wooden cannon 
SS^:"!— 18146 



15 

or a telephone pole used for a cannon before he went over. I 
want Senators to see these pictures, I do this, Mr. President, 
because I feel it a duty that I owe first to my country and sec- 
ond to my conscience, and no man and no set of men on God's 
green footstool can keep me from telling the truth and carrying 
out the dictates of my own conscience. I have no fear of God, 
man, or devil. My only fear, my colleagues, was that in this 
discussion in some way or other it miglit have a psychologically 
bad effect upon my country and its cause, and yet I do not see 
how it can do otherwise than help. If these conditions exist, 
they ought to be corrected and corrected quickly. Great Brit- 
ain found the same conditions and she corrected them pretty 
quickly as a result of fearless criticism. France found the 
same conditions and corrected them. America can not get her 
Army to manufacture these things. I do not care what they 
gay, the graduates of military institutions stand at the top of 
their classes it may be, but when :t comes to a young man 
trained along a particular line of duty uudertakiug to handle 
great commercial and manufacturing enterprises it is not in 
him to do it. You must go to the men who have done these 
things in order to secure results. Great Britain did that and 
France did it, and why should we not take this matter up and 
if Congress feels that there are inefficiencies it ought to correct 
them, though the heavens fall. Congress ought to do it without 
any fear of anybody, giving due weight and consideration always 
to the distinguished Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy. 

Now, what has been the result? I want you to read the Sec- 
retary's statement printed in the hearings about having sub- 
stantially all these things in the way of equipment. While he 
was on the stand a few days ago, reiterating again the state- 
ment that our soldier boys were equipped, I said to him, in 
substance, as I took my seat at the head of the table with 
my distinguished colleagues, " Why, Mr. Secretary, I have just 
talked within the last five minutes with a commanding officer 
at one of these cantonments, and he tells me that he !s short 
7,000 coats." In his usual placid way he said, substantially, 
"That is not true." I said, "He just came from there and is 
it not true?" He turned around to the Assistant Secretary 
of War, and said to him, "Telegraph to the Quartermaster Gen- 
eral and get his report," On the next day, the 14tli of Jan- 
uary, I got this letter from the Secretary : 

War Depahtment, 
Washington, January IJ,. lOlS. 

My Dear Senatoh CHAMBEn^AiN : On Paturday morning or;o oi the 
members ot the committee said that he had just talked with the com- 
manding officer of Camp Sherman, and that there were, as I recaU it, 
3,000 men there without uniforms. You will recall that I a:.ked the 
Assistant Secretary to direct at once that a telegram be Kent to the 
camp to find out the facts. 

I inclose a telegram which came on Saturday, the same day upon 
which the statement was made, and which states that the 31, 024 men 
now at Camp Sherman were at that time all in uniform, and taat a pre- 
vious shortage of approximately 7,000 coats was at that time D.rvidod 
for. 

I send this information because, as you will recall, I ventured at the 
time the statement was made quite definitely to express a dis'iellel in 
Its accuracy. 

I will say this for the Secretary, wlien he did not know he 
was very positive. 
38227—18146 



i 



16 

This tologram I think shoulfl be c.nllocl to the attention of the mem- 
bers of the committee, as it is of the highest importance lo have them 
know both that this provision has been made and that Ihe informa- 
tion upon which I have been relying in my testimony to the committee 
is not inaccurate. 

Cordially, yours, 

Newton D. Bakeu, 

Secretiiri/ of War. 
Hon. George E. CHAMBEnLArx, 

United States Senate. 

The telegram is as follows. It came from the quartermaster 
addressed to Geu. Goethals. 

Camp Shehmax, Ohio, January 12, 1918. 
Goethals. 

Qiiartcrma.itcr General of the Army, Waf>hington, D. C. 
Retel date, 81.024 men now at this camp all in uniform. Previous 
shortage of approximately 7,000 coats provided for. 

Case. 
Camp Quartei-ma.ster. 

That convinced me that the Secretary of War Ivnew wliat he 
was talking about, and I was glad to have it confirmed, because 
there were some things I thought he was misinformed about. 
On the very next day, January 15, lie sent me this letter : 

War Department, 
Washington, January /.), WfS. 
My Dear Senator Chamberlain : I send you a telegram which has 
just been received from Camp Sherman. The information in it differs 
from that contained in the earlier telegram, which I sent you yesterday 
and which arrived on Saturday. Apparently the information given to 
you by Gen. Glenn as to the blouses was accurate. This telegram, how- 
ever, shows that an adequate supply is in shipment, though not received 
by the time the telegram was sent. 
Cordially, yours, 

Newton D. Baker, 

Secretary of War. 
Hon. George E. Chamberlain, 

United States Senate. 

That is the way it lias been ever since the war commenced. It 
is on the way, but does not get there. Now, what does the tele- 
gram say? 

Camp Sherman, Ohio, January 15, 1018. 
Goethals, per Hardeman, 

Office Quartermaster General, Washington, D. C.: 
Thirty-one thousand one hundred and four men now in cfrnp. All 
have overcoats and woolen breeches. Twenty-four thousand two hun- 
dred and four have complete uniforms. Sixty-nine hundred not yet 
supplied with coats, supply of which is now in shipment. 

Case. 
Camp Quartermaster. 

So the distinguished Gen. Glenn, commanding at Camp Sher- 
man, a man whom I have always found willing to tell the truth, 
was nearly right. He comes from North Carolina, as whispered 
to me by the Senator from that State [Mr. Overman], God bless 
him ; I wish we had more lilve him. Speaking from memory 
only, he missed it by 100, and I think I shall show by Mr. Baker's 
own testimony that when he made the statement that all these 
places were equipped he was mistaken. But that is not all I am 
going to show you. With all these statements, time and again 
Iterated and reiterated, that our boys are substantially provided 
for, this committee asked The Adjutant General of the Arniy^ 
this was a little after the 1st of January — to wire the canton- 
ment and other commanding officers to furnish us with infor- 
mation as to the actual conditions in the cantonments and the 
conditions as to equipment C. Equipment C is the clothiug out- 
38:.'::7— 1S146 



17 

fit of a private soldier. In due course that information came to 
us. In the face of this statement that had l)een repeate<lly 
made, that that equipment was all furnished or was sul)stan- 
tialiy furnished, made upon the part of the Secretary of War 
and prohahly by the Quartermaster General, too. on the 12th of 
January the Secretary sends up to the connnittee (i"^ following: 

War Depaktme.nt, 
Washington, January 12, 1918. 
Hon. George R Chamberlain, 

Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, 

United Rtatca Senate. 
Mr Dear Senator : Pursuant to telephonic request of your commit- 
tee to The Adjutant General of the Armv that a report be obtained 
showing in percentages the shortages of articles of equipment C quar- 
termaster supplies at the different divisional camps as of .January 1, 
or as near that dpte as possible, a telegram was sent all division 
commanders, and I now have the honor to sniMnit to vour committee, 
attached herewith, a tabuhited siieet showing the state of equipment 
as disclosed by these replies. 

Figures represent shovtages in percentages. Where blank spaces 
exist, no shortages were reported. 
Very respectfully 

Newton D. Baker, 
Secretary of War. 
That information comes to us through the Secretary of War 
himself, contradicting over his own signature and in his own 
letter his previous statement that the equipment was all there. 

I am not going to take time to read the statement of short- 
ages, hut I am going to ask that it may go into the Record be- 
cause I want i)eople to see. I want them to see whether or not 
I am distorting the truth when I say that the Military Establish- 
ment of America has fallen down. I propose to relieve myself 
of responsibility if the worst ever comes, so that I may go home 
to my family and to my friends and to my constituents and say, 
" I tried to invite the attention of the country to it, but they lis- 
tened rather to those higher in authority, and my voice was as 
of one calling in the wilderness." 

This statement contains the list of articles that go to make 
up the equipment and it shows the shortage.s. I ask thar it 
may be printed in the Record. 

The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection it is bC ordered. 
The matter referred to is as follows: 
3S227— 18146 2 



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Mr, CHAlvrBERLATN. Let rae take one item for instance. I 
will take one of the important items — woolen coats — olive-drab 
woolen coats. In the Third Regular Divioion it is 10 per cent 
short; in the Fourth Regular Division, 54 per cent short; in the 
Sixth Regular Division. 90 per cent short — woolen coats — while 
we are in the midst of winter, and this is about the 1st of .Janu- 
ary. Take Camp Wadsworth, S. C, IS per cent short. Take the 
Thirtieth at Camp Sevier, S. C., and there is a shortage of 60 per 
cent of woolen coats. 

Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Where was it that there was a 
shortage of 90 per cent? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. That was at a Regular Army division ; 
I am not sure about where it is situated. 

Take Camp Wheeler. Ga., and I am going to call attention 
to some of the things in connection with tliese shortages, Mr. 
President, unpleasant though it may be, in an effort to show 
the Senate and the country as to the hundreds and thousands 
of young men who are dying in all of these encampments, that 
it is due to the inefficiency of the War Department itself; at 
least that is my conclusion from the testimony. I am not an 
expert; I do not know; but I charge that I conclude from the 
testimony that that inefliciency is responsible for it. I am not 
going to make that statement on my own authority ; I am 
going to read into the Record the reports of the Surgeon Gen- 
eral. I am not making these statements, Mr. President, v.'ithout 
having sat with the committee constantly, never missing a 
single minute, except a part of one afternoon when I was 
called to a department. I know what every witness stated. If 
I had time to go into details, I could open the eyes even of tlie 
Senate. 

TaUe Camp Doniphan, in Oklahoma, where tliere was a 53 
per cent shortage of woolen coats. 

Mr. GALLINGER. What was the shortage at Camp Wheeler, 
I will ask the Senator? 

]\Tr. CHAMBERLAIN. At Camp Wheeler the shortage was 
39 per cent of woolen coats. 

Camp MacArthur had a shortage of 21 per cent ; Camp Logan, 
Tex., had a shortage of 50 per cent ; Camp Cody. N. Mex.. 50 
per cent; Camp Doniphan, Okla., 53 per cent; Camp Bowie, 
Tex., 40 per cent; Camp Sheridan, Ala., 59 per cent; and so on 
down the list. I think the highest shortage in woolen coats 
was 78 per cent. 

Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Did the Senator state the shortage 
of such coats at Camp Custer? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. They are all here. The shortage at 
Camp Custer was 75 per cent. 

Mr. President, I will not read the whole list of these short- 
ages, but Senators may take each item, and it will be found that 
these camps are short all the way, as I say, from 1 per cent to 
100 per cent. This information comes right from the men on 
the ground. They know what they are talking about; they do 
not have to make their estimates on a per capita basis. They 
make their estimates on the ground, just as Gen. Glenn did 
when I asked him what the conditions were. 

Mr. President, right in this connection I feel it my duty to the 
country to let them know, and I am going to call attention to 

38227—18146 



21 

tho reports of Gen. Gorgas himself, that nearly all of the 
deaths and the epidemics at the cantonments could have been 
avoided if the War Department had been efficient and effective. 

In addition to the testimony of Gen. Gorgas, we have 
the testimony of men on the ground. We had Gen. Greble 
come up here. He is a splendid soldier. Whenever you get a 
soldier who has not any other ambition than an ambition to 
serve his country, you will invariably get the truth. It is not 
always so with one of these swivel-chair artists who wants to 
go higher, and from whom you can not ascertain what the 
truth is. 

Gen. Greble came up here at our request ; he is one of the 
men we took away from his post. Gen. Greble is stationed at 
Camp Bowie. I want you to read his testimony, because he 
shows the shortage in everything. In September last Gen. 
Greble began to see what was coming to his body of fine young 
fellows, and he began to reach out to try to get the things that 
were necessary to protect them from disease and to try to have 
those things done that would save them if disease came. He 
did not appeal to one man only ; he did not appeal through the 
regular channels only; but he appealed through all channels. 
They had this body of splendid young men in tents, 12 in a 
tent, packed together like sardines, when they ought not to 
have had at any time more than five or six, or, at the outside, 
not over eight. Gen. Greble telegraphed to the Quartermaster 
General and stated in substance, " If you do not give us more 
space for these soldiers we shall have measles and pneumonia 
and other diseases in camp." He also appealed to Gen. Gorgas, 
and kept on appealing. Then he was sent to Europe on a mis- 
sion. Sviien he came back he found the same conditions prac- 
tically existing. Not until some time in December did he get 
that for which he asked. Then the epidemic had broken out. 
As many as 8,000 young men went through the base hospitals 
and hospitals down tliere at Camp Bowie. Think of that! 

Mr. TOWNREND. How many? 

]Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Eight 'thousand. 

Mv. LA FOLLETTE. And how many deaths were there? 

Mv. CHAMBERLAIN. I will give that to the Senator in a 
minute; I shall be glad to do so. 

So, here was an old officer, who was accustomed to handle 
soldiers and who knew what was going to happen, as any sensible 
man knew what would happen. The Surgeon General has al- 
Avays ac.vised the War Department that there ought to be 50 
square feet of floor space to every man, and in those little tents 
they had placed 12 men. He did not get his request c mplied 
with until the worst had happened, until S,000 men had passed 
through the hospitals and many of them had died ; and abso- 
lutely had died without proper nursing because of the inef- 
ficiencies of the same system ! 

I challenge the Senators to read this testimony; do not take 
my word for it. You may single out a few witnesses who testify 
in opposition to what I am now stating, but when you get down 
to the men who know from actual contact and experience you 
get the truth as it appears on the ground. 

If there is one man in America who knows what he is talking 
about when he talks about disease and epidemics, and knows how 
3821'7— 1S14G 



22 

to hnndle them, it is Gen. Gorans. He has not only achieved 
a national reputation, but he has achieved a world-wide reputa- 
tion for his splendid work at Panama, and he has made that 
formerly pestilential re.^ion a gai-den spot in which to live be- 
cause of the efforts of himself and of his subordinates. 

I am soinj? to ask that all these reports of Gen. Gor.ixas be 
printed in the Record. All of these cantonments are i-adiating 
centers from which there goes out to the American people every- 
thing that is taking place there ; and I hope that every young man 
will write to his mother and his father and tell of the conditions, 
not in order to stay the patriotism of America but to stinuilate 
those in authority to do their duty to protect their lives, if they 
are to fight the battles of the country. 

Secretai-y Balver says in his printed statement that — 
The deaths in our forcos in the United States from September to 
the end of December average 7.5 per thousand a year, slightl.v less 
than would have been the death rate of men of the same age at home. 

Well, maybe that is true, but Gen. Gorgas says that amongst 
all the troops there has been a death rate of 8.2 per cent cov- 
ering a little longer time. It is probable that Secretary Baker's 
statement is correct for the time he gives, and that Gen. Gorgas's 
data are correct for the time he covers ; but what does a little 
thing like 2 per thousand of a million and a lialf men amount 
to? It does not mean anything, of course; let them die; it is 
only 2 per thousand; they have saved the balance of them. 
However, if proper precautions upon the part of the Govern- 
ment, if an efficient system had saved one young man who was 
risking his life for America, the American people would liave 
been glad to have seen the money expended to save that one 
life. Particularly is that true in the light of the reports of 
the Surgeon General of the Army, which show that this condi- 
tion was due to the fact that in most cases the troops vi'ere over- 
crowded and in some improperly clothed. 

But '^hat is not all. With that distinguished man at the head 
of the medical service of the Army and an able corps of assist- 
ants here, he was not even advised with as to the selection of 
the cantonment sites. Mind you, the men who go to these canips 
are selected men. 

^Ir. LA FGLLETTE. How many contonments ar^ th^re? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. There are 30. Now, think of that! 
The man at the head of the medical department here in Wash- 
ington, with a reputation in his line second to none amonfrst the 
professional men in the world, not even consulted with r'-ferenoe 
to ihe selection of these sites. 

It may be said that, with the officer of the line who FPlortf^d 
these camp sites, there went a young doctor. Whether he was 
from the Medical Corps, or whether he was some post or con- 
tract surgeon, does not make any difference to me; what I am 
getting at is that Surg. Gen. Goi-gas was not consulted, 
and all this time he has insisted morning, noon, and night, in 
season and out of season, that in order to safeguai'd the health 
of these young men there must be at least 50 square feet of 
floor space to the man; and yet I venture to state, Mr. Presi- 
dent, that there is not a single cantonment in tlie United States 
that has been built with that idea in view for protecting the 
young men. 

382127 — 18146 



23 

But it mny be said that those youns men had to be called out 
quickly. AVhat was the use of calling them out until the canlon- 
ments were ready or at least hospital facilities? They mi^dit 
have been drafted into the service, and might have been assigned 
foi- duty at home or allowed to remain somewhere where tiiey 
would not have been compelled to give up their lives because of a 
lack of care. 

I will take these camps at random, and, inasmuch as I havo 
referred to Camp Bowie, I will call attention to that. I will 
say to my southern friends and colleagues that the same condi- 
tions prevail down there, as you will know if you will take the 
trouble to go on the ground. First. I will take Ca.np Sevier, 
S. C, as a random case. Here is Gen. Gorgas'.s report : 

S.nnitary conditions here are serious. Sixty men h.ive died of 
pneumonia in the past month. The camp has been expo'icd to a i:n\- 
cTal epidemic of measles, about 2,000 cases having ocsirred w'thin 
the last month. During this same period, they have had 17.5 oases 
of pneumonia and 15 cases of meningitis. The new con^ci'ipts of this 
command are men who are nonimmune to measles. Th'^y come from 
the neighboring Southern States where population is scarce, and. thor^- 
fore, have not had measles in childhootf. Always, with metislcs. a cer. 
tain number of cases of pneumonia occur. The mortality of pneumonia 
from any cause is always high. 

Now. note : 

2. The basic unsanitary condition, however. In my opinion. Is over- 
crowding. In the past, in this camp, the division commander has had 
to put 11 and lii men in a tent, due to the shortage of tentage. 
This would give about 20 square feet of space- to each man. At 
present, he has to put nine men -in a tent, which gives about 28 
square feet to the man. I urge that the division commander be 
directed to furnish at least 50 square feet of floor space to the man, 
which would give about five men to the tent. 

Now, note another item. I am not going to read the whole 
report, but I will say these statements are given in the face 
of the inference to be drawn from the statement of the distin- 
guished Secretary of War that everything is all right in these 
camps. 

5. There has been a good deal of discomfort and exposure 
on account of the men having nothing but their summer clothing. 

Mark you, this report was made on the 29th of November — 
This has been In great part corrected in the last 10 days by the 
arrival of woolen clothing and overcoats. The O. D. (olive drab)> 
wool has not yet been issued, but the authorities are informed that it 
Is on the way. The whole command is still in khaki. 

That statement is along the line of many other statements 
where it is shown that the men not only do not have olive 
drab woolen clothing but that they are still in their summer 
clothing, the Secretary of War to the contrary notwithstanding, 
because we have this testimony, or some of it, from men on the 
ground and from such distinguished men as Surg. Gen. Gorgas. 

I will now take as another illustration Camp Bowie 

Mr. TOWNSEND. Where is Camp Bowie? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. At Fort Worth, Tex. Now, note. I 
quote again from Gen. Gorgas: 

We have had in this camp duving the past month 41 deaths from 
pneumonia, with 409 cases admitted. About 2,900 cases of measles in 
the same length of time. The causes of this condition are much the 
same as in the other camps reported upon. The great number of cases 
of measles is due to the fact. 

The general tlien states about the same reason as given In the 
report.5 from which I have already quoted, as to men coming 
38227—18146 



24 

from sparsely settled States, who have not had measles in 
childhood. I will not read that, but the general goes on to say 
in his report : 

1. I recommencl that the division commander be directed to furnish 
sufflcient accommodations so that each man will be allowed .'50 feet of 
floor space. This would give not more than five men to a tent. 

2. Measles and other epidemic diseases are Introduced into these 
camps by cases beins? brought by the Incoming troops. To provide 
against this an observation camp should be estal)llshed. where all new- 
comers could be kept under observation for at least 14 days, and no 
new men should be placed in general camp until it is free from in- 
fection. I recommend that the division commander be directed to 
establish such observation camp, and that no fresh men be sent in 
until he is ready to receive them under the above instructions. 

3. The command, until recently, has had nothing but their summer 
clothing. 

That report was made on the third day of December last. 

Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Have no observation camps been 
established? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. None at all that I know of; the men 
go right into the camps ; that is the system. Let me say that all 
these things could not be done at once; it has been a herculean 
task for the War Department to do these things, but they could 
have kept these men back — there is not any question about 
that — until the hospitals were built as well as the cantonments; 
they could have established obsei'vation camps; that would have 
been a very easy matter. Now note : 

The command, until recently, has had nothing hut their summer 
clothing. This lias caused a great deal of discomfort and probably 
increased the tendency to pneumonia. Most of the command has 
recently beon issued woolen underclothing, and I am informed that 
the t'ljck clotMng for the whole command is now In camp, with the 
exception of overcoats — 

With the exception of overcoats — 
and are in process of being issued. 

They have been " in process," Mr. President, since this war 
began. 

I urge expediting the forwarding of overcoats as rapidly as possible. 

Tbe base hospital is in an unfinished condition ; no water in the 
hospital, no plumbing, or sewer connection. With the large number 
of patients in this institution this lack of water, plumbing, and sewer 
connection causes serious inconvenience to the sick, and increases 
greatly the burden of caring for them. 

Mv. TILLMAN. Mr. President, I Avill ask the Senator what 
is the date of that report? 

]\Ir. CHAMBERLAIN. That report is dated December 3. 
They come down even later, however, and there is practically 
no difference in these reports. 

I am going to ask that tliese reports be inserted in the 
Recokd. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. AVithout objection, it is so 
ordered. The Chair hears no objection. 
• The matter referred to is as follows: 

November 2G, 1917. 
From : The Surgeon General, United States Army. 

To: The Chief of Staff (through The Adjutant General of the Army). 
Subject : Report of inspection of Camp Wheeler, Macon, Ga. 

1. In my recent Inspection of Camp Wheeler, at Macon. Ga., 
I found conditions as had been indicated by reports. There had been 
a sharp epidemic of measles, some o,000 cases, and as always oc- 
curs with measles, a certain number of cases of pneumonia. .\t the 
time of my visit, there were some 300 cases of pneumonia In the 
38227— 1814G 



25 

Si'Jfi'J^fL J^'i"^ t.'ie hospital was crowded, the right of way was 
given the pneumonia case and they were heinff well (■ared for 
mo'nia ThP^hPioh^^f l^"""^ '"''T been about 60 deaths from pneu- 
?nv« ^o-n Li ^#'m °^^J^'' mraslps epidemic was passed some ten 
«S^?.,2^S '^r'^ H l''!u*'™*^ °f "y v's't the epidemic was markedly 
on the decline, but the pneumonia was still on the increase Gon- 

^«vJ^nf^!!rVS*'°-'\'^,"'^^ °°J develop in a patient until a week" or ten 
days after the incidence of the measles 

pneumonia!'"' ^^^''^^°^'^' expect a considerable number of deaths from 

T ^I'-'^i'^ti'^^^P '^ '^^" situated and was in generally good condition 
I think the reason for the measles affecting so severely this partici?ar 

^^M.?h''n.*''^ ^^'^ f'^'''* "i?" ^^"^ f'-°™ fhe surroundingSothe'^-D Spates 
vvhich are sparsely settled and therefore the inhabitants do not as 
a rule, have measles in childhood. ' 

♦o-?; ^c'*''^*^ proportion of the cases of pneumonia were evidently con- 
tact cases and I am anxious on this score, fearing that we may be bcin- 
or,?,entn'c,i?i° ^P*^''""!'^ »« ^^tic pneumonia. We have had I'^fewS 

r whftl"^' ^Ju^"-" '"i^''.*'-'' ?^ ^'■•'"■I'^t f'"^er and some cases of mumps. 
fliHnnW nil f'h'" ""^ oi-'fe'inal cause of the epidemic and the present con- 
camo •Thltenr''^''"^ accentuated by the crowded condition of the 
fn^t^f>.„f ,r tendency to pneumonia has no doubt been Increased by the 
m^t mLth l'^I\ ^•■'''^ seuerally been exposed to the cold weather of the 
rh^thin<? it ^'^^' "°„ ^^'^^^ P™tection than their summer clothing! 

men ,l«nnnHo/''?/K'-^ "T'""^ ''^to <'^'"P ^'^'l al^out two-thirds of the 
men aie supplied with woolen garments. 

have Go'l-ePt"!!'/' Ann™'* ^'^ insisted upon that all men In the camp 
Rholtov i,P .!„?Li , "^ ^P"*''*" ^^''^' '^°'' to accomplish this such additional 

W. C. GORGAS, ■ 

Surgeon General, United States Army. 

Camp Sevier, Greenville, S. C, 

From : Surgeon General, United States Army. ^-'^"»''^'- 20, 1917. 

Jo: Chief of Staff. United States Army. 

Subject : Camp sanitation. 

1. Sanitary conditions here are serious. Sixty men have died of 
pneumonia in the past month. The camp has been expose.l to a '■eneral 
epidemic of measles, about 2,000 cases having occurred within the last 
niontb During this same period they have had 175 cases olpnJumonfa 
and 15 cases of meningitis. The new conscripts of this coiiiman are 
KoTth^^^" ItnMl"""!;'"""" to measles. They come from the neighl>orfn| 
southern States where population is scarce, and therefore have not ha<? 
measles in childhood, always with measlJs a certain nmi.Ser of Vasei 
SlwaysTgh!'' °''"'"' ^^^ °^°'"t'i"fy "f pneumonia from any cause is 
«...?• i'^^® basic insanitary condition, however. In mv opinion is over- 
n,t i^{°^'ni^?of'"' P''"-* '° this camp the division coiinnZ" has had to 
S.lni V ""'^ }- 1"?.V\ '° ^ t*^"^' 'I'^e to the shortage of tenlage. This 
j\oul(l give about 20 square feet of space to each man. Ar present he 
has to put 9 men in a tent, which gives about 28 square feet to te 
man I urge that the division commander be dircctidto furnish at 
mcn*to*^th^Tent "' "^ ^""^ 'P^'" '" "'*^ "'^"' '"^''^ would give aiout 5 
3. I also recommend that an observation camp he established where 
fresh men can be isolated an.l kept under observation for at l.'asT two 
Infection'' ''""^ ^**''^" ^*^°^''* evidence of being free from 

. '^ivp-^^ division commander tells me that he expects a large increase 
Id the force at an early date. I urge that no fresh men he sent to 
l„I.''*i '"P,""*'L*''^'''^''^L°" commander says that he is able to care 
for them along the lines of this recommendation. 

,"• 'A'here has been a good deal of discomfort and exposure on account 
of the men having nothing but their summer clothing. This has l«een 
In great part corrected in the last 10 days by the arrival of woolen 
clothing and overcoats. The O. 1). wool has not y.>t be.n issu.'d. but 
the authorities are informed that it is on the way. The whole command 
lo sriji II) Kiimki. 

(!. Heat and plumbing are badly needed in the hospital. Both were 
authorized two weeks aso. I recommend that the matter be pressed 
381'27— 1814G 



26 

and the hospital be equipped in this respect at just as early a date aa 
is possible. The hospitii! needs badly more transportation. I i-ecom- 
mend that they be furnished one motor car, one 3-ton trucl;. one l|-toa 
truck, and one S-ton truck. The hospital at present has 750 patients. 

W. C. GoitGAS. 

Camp Beauregard, La., December 1, 1917. 
From : The Surgeon (General. United States Army. 
To : Chief of Staff, War Department. Washington. 
Subject : Sanitary conditions. Camp Beauregard, Iowa. 

1. During the past mouth this camp has had 38 deaths from pneu- 
monia and from spinal meningitis. During the same length of time 
they have had 2,S00 cases of measles, 177 eases of pneumonia, and 11 
cases of spinal meningitis. The immediate cause of the pneumonia 
from which the mortality comes is the epidemic of measles. Both the 
measles and pneumonia are on the decline. The sanitary conditions, 
however, I consider very serious, and steps should be taken at once, as 
far as possible, to remedy them. 

The command is at present quartered at the rate of nine men to a 
tent. This gives about 28 feet of floor space to the man, and, in my 
estimation, is excessive overcrowding. 

I recommend that the division commander be directed to put up suffi- 
cient tentage to give each man at least 50 feet of floor space, which 
would furnish about 5 nun to a tent. 

2. The camp has become infected with measles and meningitis by the 
transfer of infected troops from other camps. To avoid continued in- 
fection in this way an observation camp should be erected where new 
arrivals could be kept under observation for at least two weeks, and for 
such longer period of lime as necessary while the main camp shows 
evidence of infection. This same precaution should be taken with regard 
to men being transferred to other camps. 

3. The base hospital is located 4 miles from town. I recommend 
that the hospital be furnished at once with one 2-ton truck, one IJ-ton 
truck, and one J-ton truck, and one motor car, urgently needed for its 
transportation. 

4. The base hospital is located about 2 miles from camp and con- 
nected with camp by a very poor road. The road is in such poor con- 
dition that the transfer of sick from camp to hospital is hard on the 

Eatients. I recommend that the road lietween the hospital and camp 
e at once macadamized. 

5. The men in general came to this camp In their summer clothing, 
and have suffered a good deal of discomfort on account of cold. The 
tendency to pneumonia has been increased by their exposure to the 
cold in this badly clothed condition. Within the last two weeks the 
■whole command has been furnished with Avinter underclothing. About 
half the men of the command have overcoats, but so far no olive-drab 
uniforms. The completion of the equipping of the command with 
•winter clothing should be expedited as much as possil)le. 

G. The division commander informs me that the placing of nine 
men to a tent was due to orders from Washington. 

W. C. GORGAS. 

December 1. 
Colonel, Medical Corps. 
Chief op Staff-, 

War Department, Washington, D. G. 
During the past month this camp has had 38 deaths from pneumonia 
and six deaths from spinal meningitis. During the same period 177 
cases of pneumonia have been admitted to the hospital and 11 cases of 
spinal meningitis. An epidemic of measles exists, of whii-h disease 
2.300 cases have come on sick report during the past month. I con- 
sider sanitary conditions serious, though measles and pneumonia are 
now on the decline. The camp is much overcrowded, with nine men to 
the tent. I recommend that the division commander be directed to 
furnish not less than 50 square feet of floor space for each man. and 
that an observation section be established for the camp. I recommend 
that no more men be sent to this camp until the division commander is 
prepared to care for them along the lines of the above recommendatiolMB. 
Letter follows. 

Gorgas. 
38227—18146 



27 

MA.TOn CEXBnAL. 

Camp P.owrB, Fort Wop.th, Tex., December S, J917. 
Chief op Staff, War Drparlmcnt. Washington: 

Sanitary coiuliticns hero more serious than at other ramps visited. 
In the last monlh 41 deaths from pneumonia with 400 admissions. 
Cause same as at otiier camps recently reported, primary causes over- 
crowdin;,'. Recommend that the division commander he directed to 
allow only five men to a lent and that no more men be sent to this camp 
until division (ommandcr says he is ready to receive them. Most urgent 
need in hospital of water, plumbing, and sewers. Urge this be ordered 
at once. Letter follows. 

GORGAS. 

Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, Tex., December S, 1017. 
From : The Surgeon (icneral of the Arniv. 
To: The Chief of Staff. Wa-- Department. Washington. 
Subject : Condition Thirty-sixth Division, Camp Bowie, Tex. 

1. We have had in tliis camp during the past month 41 deaths 
from pneumoiia, witli 400 cases admitted. Al)out 2.000 cases of mea- 
sles in the same length of time The causes of this condition are 
much the sa ne as in tne other camps reported upon. The great 
number of casen of measles is due to the fact that the men come 
from the spa;-:iely settled States of Texas and Oklahoma and have 
not had measles in cliildhood, hut the basic cause is due to the 
overcrowding of the camp. We have at present nine men to a tent. 
I recommend that the division commander be directed to furnish sufli- 
cient accommo(<ations so ',hat each man will be allowed fifty fleet of 
floor space. This would give not more than five men to a tent. 

L'. Measles and other epidemic diseases are introduced into these 
camps by cases being brought by the incoming troops. To provide 
against this an observation camp should be estal)lished, where all new- 
comers could be kept under observation for at least fourteen days, 
and no new men shtuild be placed in general camp until it is free from 
infection. 1 recommend that the division commander be directed, to 
establish such observation camp, and that no fresh men be sent in 
until he is ready to receive them under the above instructions. 

8. The command, until recently, has had nothing hut their summer 
clothing. This lias caused a great deal of discomfort, and probably 
increased the tendency to pneumonia. Most of the command has re- 
cently been issued woolen underclothing, and I am informed that the 
tliick clothing for the wliole command is now in camp, with the ex- 
ception of overcoats, and are in process of being issued. I urge expe- 
diting the forwarding of overcoats .is rapidly as possible. 

4. The base hospital is in an unfinished condition ; no water in the 
hospital, no plumbing or sewer connection. With the large number of 
patients in this institution this lack of water, plumbing ad'\ sewer con- 
nection causes serious inconvenience to the sick and in-jreases gn^ally 
the burden of caring for them. I recommend that telegraphic instruc- 
tions be sent to the division commander at once to put in plumbing, 
Vater and sewer connections. I also recommend that telegraphic In- 
structions be sent to put in electric cookers in the diet kitchens in all 
of the wards. 

5. I met by appointment last night the governor of Texas and the 
health officer of the State. They made several criticism,^ of condi- 
tions, which I thought were Justified, but they were satisfied. I think, 
when I pointed out the impossibility of meeting in all respects the con- 
ditions that have been suddenly forced upon us, and that we were try- 
ing in every way to correct these conditions. A copy of the re:om- 
nu-ndations of Gov. Hobby, addressed to the division commander, v/as 
furnished me at our interview, which is inclosed herewith. 

G. There is a great deal of uneasiness and criticism among the people 
with regard to conditions here, which are worse from a sanitary point 
of view than in any of the camps I have visited. 

7. ( think the recommendations I have made will tend io correct tlie 
existing sanitary erroi's, but I can not urge too strongly that they be 
put Into effect at once. The camp site and surroundings are all that 
can be desiied. The troops and general conditions are good, with the 
exception of such conditiuus as relate to the epidemic diseases at pres- 
ent prevailing. 

Major General, U. S. Armt. 
3S227— 18146 



28 

The Base Hospitai,, 
Gamp Pike, Ark., December 5, 1917. 
Prom : The Surgeon General. 
To : The Chief of Staff. 
Subject : Report on conditions at Camp Vike, Ark. 

1. During the iast month we have had at this post 57 deaths from 
pneumonia, with 241 admissions ; 4 deaths from spinal meningitis, 
with IG admissions ; 2,100 cases of measles admitted ; 12S cases of 
scarlet faver. with 11 deaths — the immediate cause of death in these 
cases being pneumonia, they are included under that heading; 124 
cases of mumps. These figures indicate a serious condition of affairs 
at this camp. The principal cause of measles, as has been pointed 
out in other camps, is that a large number of the troops came from 
the sparsely settled States and had not had measles before. The 
16 cases of meningitis occurring within the month, 10 came from 
Fort Riley. This is an ilustration of the way one camp can infect 
another by means of cases brought by incoming troops. All these 
infections have evidently been introduced into the camp by troops corn- 
ing from other infected camps or by men who had been infected at their 
homes. An important means of preventing this for the future will be 
the building of observation camps, where the men can be kept under 
observation for at least two weeks before they are admitted to the 
general camp As this camp shows such evidence of severe infection, 
I think the same observation camp could be established for those 
goins out. 

2. Crowding in this camp, I do not think exists to any appreciable 
extent. When the division shall have been filled, we will have about 
40 square feet per man. As this camp shows such marked evidence 
of infection. I recommend that this be increased by means of addi- 
tional biuldings to 50 square feet per man. 

3. The number of cases of measles admitted has been declining 
rapidly for the past 10 days, and I believe the present epidenic is 
ovei'. The numlier of cases of pneumonia from measles, as would 
be expected, is on the increase and we should naturally expect a 
greater number of deaths from this disease during the next week or 
10 days. AVithin the last 15 davs 8,000 new men have been introduced 
into the camp. It is possible that when these 8.000 men begin to 
show infection, we will go through an epidemic similar to that 
through which we have just passed. However, as most of these men 
come from the thickly populated State of Iowa, I do not think it 
probable that they will have measles as severely as the men who 
have just been tbrough tlie epidemic, but certainly until this matter 
is determined and the camp is free from infection, no additional men 
should be sent here. I recommend that the division commander be 
directed not to receive more men until he is able to comply with 
the recommendations above made concerning space and observation 
camps, and until this camp shows evidence of being free from infection. 

4. One great difficulty here is lack of segregation. In Camp Bowie, 
for instance, if we get a case of meningitis in a tent of nine men it is 
a very easy matter to segregate these nine men and determine whether 
or no they have been infected. Here, with a squad room containing 
120 men, this is much more difficult. I urge, therefore, that in ex- 
tending this camp, as above recommended, thnt the quarters to be erected 
for this purpose and tor the purpose of isolation contain not more than 
eight men. 

5. The command has been in its summer clothing until recently. 
During the last month the winter clothing has begun to come in and 
the men are now pretty well supplied with thick clothing, though there 
are several commands in the camp that have not yet been fully supplied. 
This lack of clothing with the exposure to the cold has no doubt been 
an element causing large pneumonia rate. 

0. The camp is well located and (he camp site good. Cleanliness and 
order and general sanitary conditions, with the exception of the epi- 
demics, seem to b(> excellent. 

7. The hospital is nearly completed and is as well supplied as could 
be expected under the circumstances. At present they have in the 
hospital 1.251 patients. This somewhat crowds the hospital, as it was 
built for a thousan<l patients. The overflow is at present being cared 
for, and I think well cared for, by the use of the galleries. Additional 
nurses" quarters are needed, additional officers' quarters at the ho>^pital. 
and a<lditional barrack buildings for hospital attendants are needed. A 
38227— 1814C 



29 

small kitchen in the rear of the wards for contagious diseases and some 
addition to tlio administration building are needed. The hospital is very 
short of transportation. I recommend that one touring car and one 
3-ton truck and one IJ-ton truck be permanently assigned to this 
hospital. 

Surgeon Gb.vbual. 

Camp Ftinston, Kans., December 7, 1917. 
Colonel, Medical Corps. 
Chief op Staff. Washinoton, D. C, 

Strongly recommend that sites for detention, quarantine, observation 
camps, as selected on this reservation by the commanding general. 
Camp FunstoD, be approved. Action now being delayed by po.^t com- 
mander on technical grounds oi local command. Urgent that action be 
taken at once. 

GORGAS. 

Camp Funston, Kans., December 8, lOn. 
From : The Surgeon General. 
To: The Chief of Staff. 
Subject : Sanitary report, Camp Funston. 

1. During the past month, this command has had 84 deaths. Of 
these 84 deaths, 54 were from pneumonia, with 180 cases ; 34 deaths 
from meningitis, with 70 oases ; 131 cases mumps. This indicates a 
most serious condition of the cantonment, as far as infection from 
the tAvo serious diseases, meningitis and pneumonia, are concerm d. 
As emphasized in the draft situation, I call attention to the fact that 
they had 84 deaths from all causes, when the normal death rate of 
such a command should be about 12. 

2. The reason for this condition, as we look back, Is very evident. 
When the drafted troops wore brought in, they came in Ijirge numbers, 
ail at once. The cantonment was excessively crowded. Ketween 
October 4 and October 20, 30,000 drafted men were injected into 
the cantonment. Among these there were many meningitis carriers. 

3. This part of the country is well known to all health ofhcers as 
having been, for the last few years, the principal endemi:- center in 
its civil population for meningit's. Granting the conditions above 
mentioned, no further explanation is needed to explain the present 
conditions as to meningitis. I would attribute the form of pneumonia 
existing here principally to the past crowd'ng of the cantonment. It 
is the same form that occasionally becomes epidemic when large num- 
bers of men are brought together in a crowded space. The excessive 
dust, which blows about in blinding storms, has no doubt accentuated 
the condition, and as it occurred at the other cantonments, the lack 
of woolen clothing has also been a contributory cause. The cold 
weather in October, to which the men were exposed 'n summer cloth- 
ing and without any heat in their barracks, tended in the same 
direction. 

4. In discussing this matter, I will first treat it as if the condi- 
tions were new and nothing had been done, and will point out what 
should be done under such circumstances. As a matter of fact, the 
epidemic has been excellently handled, and all measures I have to 
recommend have been put into eflfect as far as possible for the division 
commander to do so. 

5. Meningitis and other infectious diseases were originally intro- 
duced from the outside. To meet this condition, observation camps 
should be established, where all men coming into the camp could be 
observed for at least two weeks, or such longer period as may be 
considered necessary. In this way, the men who had been infected 
could be picked out as they developed those diseases, and the in- 
coming troops finally gotten out in an uninfected condition. The 
same process should be observed with troops leaving tb(; camp as 
long as the camp showed evidence of Infection. Orders should at 
once be given that no more troops be sent to this cantonment until 
the division commander states that he is ready to receive them. 

6. The internal arrangement, as regards the isolation and caring 
for infectious diseases, should conform with those measures that are 
generally recognized as applying to these conditions, and that are at 
present 'being carried out most satisfactorily and successfully In the 
camp. As a matter of fact, all the above recommendations are being 
carried out at present, as far as lies in the power of the division 

38227—18146 



30 

commanrlpr. To cover the question of overcrowfling, I recommend 
that at least fifty (50) square feet of floor space be allowed to every 
man. 

7. I t'link, however. It would be wise for orders to ho issued to 
Washington, directing that in tbe future tbe measures above recom- 
mended he carried out. My desire to have this done is wit'i t"^p ob- 
ject of giving the divisional commander the opportunity of asking for 
such material as he needs for putting up the observation camps he 
is at present constructing, and also with the idea that it may be an 
order that will govern all future commanders of this cantonment. I 
wish to particularly call attention to tl'e telegram sent out regarding 
t'is matter, relative to ground for a detention camp in the post of 
Fort Riley. This is very much to be desired. 

8. The camp has been located in the river bottom and Is exces- 
sively dusty. In my experience, the use of oil on the roads and 
grounds has been very successful in lessening the dust. The division 
sureeon tells me that their exoerience here has shown tbat the use of 
oil for this purpose is very effective. I recommend that they be sup- 
plied with such amount of oil as they find necessary to meet this very 
unsanitary condition. 

9. In their observation camp, as at present being erected here, they 
are using a tent, floored and framed with side walls, that holds five 
men earh. I think this is an ideal condition. It gives complete 
segregation and no overcrowding I recommend that as these tents 
■wear out they be converted Into permanent buildings by putting on a 
roof. I recommend that all future construction conform to the plan 
so wisely adopted in the observation camps, of allowing only five men 
to the building, which gives 50 square feet of floor space to the man. 
and segregates in bodies of five. 

10. It is a very important element to get patients from variovis 
parts of the camp to the hospital promptly. For this purpose here 
the Ihree motorized ambulance companies are used. Great difficulty 
is found in getting the motor ambuliinces started during the cold 
■weather on Account of the freezing of the water in the radiators. 
I recommend to obviate this the ambulance sheds be inclosed and 
heated. 

Major General. U. S. Arjit. 

December 27, 1917. 
From : The Surgeon General. 
To : The Chief of Staff. 
Subject : !-"anitary conditions at Camp Doniphan, Okla. 

1. During the past month Camp Doniphan has had 74 admissions 
from pneumonia with 11 deaths. .Slfi cases of measles with 1 death, 104 
admissions from diphtheria w-ith 1 death, and G cases of meningitis 
■with 4 deaths. While the number of cases and the number of deaths 
from the above-mentioned diseases are somewhat less than in other 
camps visited, the conditions in respect of those diseases is considei-ed 
serious. The basic cause I consider to be overcrowiling of the camp. 
At present there are nine men quartered in each tent, which gives a 
totally inadequate floor space for each man. I recommend that the 
division commander be directed to furnish sufficient tentage or other 
accommodations so that each man will be allowed 50 feet of Coor space. 
This would give no more than five men to a tent. 

2. Measles and meningitis were introduced into these camps by cases 
being brought by incoming troops. To pi-ovide against this "in the 
future, it is recommended than an observation camp be established for 
all newcomers where they may be kept imder oliservation for at least 
14 days, or as much longer as may be considered necessary by the divi- 
sion surgeon, and no new men from observation camps should be placed 
in the general camp until it is free from infection. I recommend that 
the division commander be diiected to establish such observation camp 
and that no fresh men be sent in until he is ready to receive them under 
the above instructions. 

3. To properly control the spread of measles, meningitis, and pneu- 
monia now confronting Camp Doniphan, it is necessary that tent con- 
tacts be immediately removed from the general camp upon the appr'ar- 
ance of the first case of communicable diseases and placed in a separate 
detention camp for daily observation and treatment during the incuba- 
tion pei'iod of the disease. It is recommended that such a detention 
camp be established for such contacts in addition to the observation 
camp pi-eviously recommended ff^r incomiug men. 

4. The command until recently has had nothing but summer clothing. 
A great deal of discomfort has resulted and undoubtedly the tendency 

38227—18146 



31 

to pneumonfn hns hor^n Inorpasrd. I am Informprt that shlpinonts are 
now coming in rapidly and that as fast as recpivi'd are boiiif; Issued to 
the men. From personal observation, however, I ttnd that many men 
are still wearing their cotton khaki clothing. 

5. The base hospital is in an unfinished condition. Many wards 
which are required for patients are not yet finished, and thi?; has caused 
great eml)ari'assment to the hospital authorities. The installation of a 
sewerage system and necessary plumbing in all buildings was authorized 
Boveral WvmMjs ago. and while work has been begun, it is now at a stJind- 
ttill, and the difficulties in caring for patients is greatly increased 
thereby. It is urgently recommended that the work of indiallation of 
sewers and plumbing be expedited. 

W. C. GouG,\s, 
Surr/eon General, United States Army. 

Mr. CHAMBEKLAIN. In order to get this thing before the 
Seiinte in a concrete form. I asked Geu. Gorgas to malie me a 
detailed statement of tlie annnal deatli rate per thousand from 
all causes. It is very short, and I will read it. 

niCATTT RATES ALf, CAUSES. 

Troops in United States September 21, 1017, to January 18, 1913. 
Annual rate per 1,000. 



All troops. 


Regulars. 


National Guard. 


National Army. 


8.2 


4.71 


10.01 


8.5:5 



The history of this country \.'Al show that wherever tliere has 
been a record of it kept, tlie men in the llegular Army suffer 
less from disease than any otlier body of soldiers, because tliey 
have learned to take care of themselves. They have been in the 
service long enougli to know how. These young fellows that 
come from civil life liave not learned that, and that is one of 
the reasons why it is necessary to take them into these camps 
for training. 

Number of deaths among Regular troops in United States, 

«cpt. 21. 1917. to .Tan. IS, 1018 350 

Average strength of Regulars for same period 214, 428 

Number of deaths among National Armv troops in United 

States, Sept. 21, 1017.' to .Ian. 18. 1018 1, 2G.1 

Average strength of National Army for same >eriod 427,088 

Number of deaths among National <.'uard iroops In United 

States, Sept. 21. 1017. to .Ian. 18. 1018 1, .'503 

Average strength of National (Juard for same period S75, 354 

Number of deaths all troops iu United States, Sept. 21, 

1017. to .Tan. 18. 1018 2.018 

Average total strength for this period 1. 010. STO 

Tliat gives iu concrete form the number of deaths that have 
occurred. 

Mv. President, what I contend is that if the authorities had 
complied witli tlie recommendation that Gen. Gorgas has made 
nil the time, of giving each of the.se men 50 j^quare feet of floor 
space, and if in addition to that tliey had put in these observa- 
tion camps within the cantonments, tlie percentage of deaths 
would have been very nmcli diminished, and I doubt if there 
would liave been one-half of the deaths that there have been. 

]\Ir. GALLINGEU. Mr. President, will it disturb the Senator 
if I ask Iiim a question? 

]Mr. CHAIMBEULAIN. I will yield to the Senator this time, 
but I do liope I may be permitted to proceed without being fur- 
ther interrupted. 

Mr. GALLINGER. I thank the Senator. Mr. President, I ara 
particularly interested in this phase of the discussion relating to 
38227—18146 



32 

the health of our soldiers ; and I will ask the Senator if he has 
inquired as to whether or not the recommendation of Gen. 
Gorgas that the floor space per soldier should be increased has 
been, attended to, or whether any attempt has been made to 
remedy the evil? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. They are attempting it in some 
places, but it has not been carried out. Right in this connec- 
tion I want to suggest that there is no law requiring it to be 
done ; I do not know whether any is necessary or not ; but the 
Medical Department, which has been making an effort right 
along to save the lives of these young men, can not get the things 
that they want. 

Mr. OWEN. Of course not. They have no standing. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. They have not the standing with the 
line that they ought to have. Why, here we had four training 
schools for the commissioned and enlisted personnel of the Medi- 
cal Corps and for doctors of the Medical Corps, where they could 
go and be trained. Two of them were cut out, and two left, 
and the Surgeon General is trying now to get the two enlarged 
so that they can train these men. 

Mr. President, I am going to illustrate by two or three cases 
that the neglect of these young men is shameful. I am not going 
Into it fully. I get many letters, but I am going to take the 
liberty of reading one or two, because I want the country to 
know that I know what I am talking about. I do not want to 
shock the conscience of America. I want America to know some 
of the facts, and, if need be, liave them know all of the facts, in 
order that the mothers and fathers of these lads may write to 
those in authority, to the President and to the Senatoi-s as well 
as to the Representatives, and appeal to them, in the name of 
humanity and in the name of America, to see to it that these boys 
who are oifering up their lives on the altar of their country may 
be protected wherever it is humanly possible to do it. 

St. Louis, Mo., December SI, 1917. 
Mr. Geo. Chamberlain, 

Chairman Investigating Committee, Washington, D. C. 

Deaie Sir : In behalf of a heart-broken family (a father, mother, 
two sisters and myself) I wish to register a complaint for the manner 

in which the case of my brother , was handled at the 

base hospital, . 

From the meager information my folks received, it appears that 
brother was stricken with a slight illness on Monday. December 10, 

and on Wednesday, the 12th, he was taken to base hospital at 

with cerebro spinal meningitis, and on Tuesday, December IS, 10.20 
a. m., he passed away. 

First information my folks received was Friday, December 14. A 
neighbor lady received a letter from her son, a comrade of my brother, 
advising he had seen brother fall out of ranks at drill and was carried 
on a stretcher to hospital. 

My sister wired an officer (a friend of our family) in Company 

■ , Infantry, at noon Friday, December 14. to spare no expense 

and to wire, collect, details. Saturday morning, December 15, received 
a reply from the officer to the effect brother sent to base hospital with 
Bpinal meningitis, but condition favorable for recovery. 

Upon receipt of latter telegram, sister wired a doctor in Company 

■ Infantry, to wire details collect and to spare no expense. Sister 

also on December 15 Saturday, wrote three special-delivery letters to 
the officer, doctor, and a comrade, respectively, for particulars, but re- 
ceived no more information until Tuesday evening. 6 o'clock, a wire 
from the company officer that brother passed away 10.20 a. m., De- 
cember 18. This wire was sent from Fort at 3.15 p. m., De- 
cember 18. 

It doesn't seem that the Company officers should have been 

required to furnish information in "this case and that they only did 
BO as a matter of respect for a lifetime friend and an appreciative 
38227— 1814C 



33 

family. Can It be possible that the Government hospital of this proud 
JNatlon of ours is not equipped to advise a father or mother of their 
son s misfortune in an authentic way. as not any of the information 
received came from the hospital direct? I notice dailv in the papers 
that rablegrams are received clear across the ocean, advising condi- 
tion of troops serving under our flag in France, but right at our door- 
step our gallant soldiers might die and be buried without the knowledge 
°L '^'i? lather and mother, who supplied them, if it were not for the 
affection and thoughtfulness of their comrades. 

My God. my colleagues and friend.'^, if they are suffering 
here in America, with the blessings and comforts of home, sur- 
rounded by neighbors and friends, what nuist be the fate of these 
poor boys if they are sent abroad to meet the dangers and the 
treacherous and inhuman warfare and conditions that exist 
abroad? 

For very palpable reasons I am not going to give the names 
of these people, hut I want to show you that tlie letters breathe 
the spirit of patriotism. Having given up their sons to their 
country, they mal^e no complaint, except in the hope that the 
example in their own family may set a precedent for better con- 
ditions and better service. 

Now, note the spirit of patriotism that breathes through every 
line of this letter. 

Brother's body was shipped with our instructions to his home, ^ 

Kans., for burial. I had the casket opened for identification pur- 
poses and was mortified beyond expression to find that, although 
brother died for his country, he was not placed in a uniform. He was 
not even clothed, being wrapped only in cotton and tied up in a sheet. 

Also, discovered that a post-mortem had been held, which I under- 
stand is permissible only with consent of parents or relatives. The 
traces of embalming were very scarce and tbe features were gone en- 
tirely, making it impossible for a local undertaker to put the body in 
shape for my father and mother and sisters to view. 

My brother is dead and in bis grave and 1 can not e.xpect to heal 
the wound in my broken heart by filing this complaint, but I am 
doing it all in a true American spirit and trust it will result in some 
good to those who may be so unfortunate as to lose their dear ones 
under similar circumstances. Would you be satisfied if this case 
applied to your brother? 

Address all correspondence to me. as I do not care for my heart- 
broken father and mother to know all of the facts. 

Mr. President, if I were to print in the Congressional Record 
all the letters that I get along this line, it would shock not only 
Congress itself, but the American conscience as well. I put 
this in the Record, in order that the country may know that 
there is inefficiency ; and, God help me, if I can assist in creat- 
ing efficiency I am going to do it, if it costs me my political and 
my own life. Somebody, somewhere in this great Republic of 
ours, must look after these splendid young men who are doing 
their duty by and for their country. If i can be instrumental 
in saving one life, or in arousing my country to the necessity of 
trying to save thousands of lives, I shall feel that my life has" not 
been illy spent. I, for one, believe in letting the sunlight in. Let 
but the American mothers and fathers realize that their sons 
might be better treated than they are, and while, like the 
parents of this young boy here, they will not ask for their dis- 
charge from the service, they will insist that the public servant 
whose duty it is to see to it will either do his duty or retire in 
disgrace from public life and public service. 

I am tempted to read one more letter into the Kecord, Mr. 
President. I have tried to keep on an even keel in the discus- 
sion of this sub.iect. I have great respect for the President, not- 
Withstanding what he has done to injure me and my reputation 
38227—18146 3 



34 

in this country ; and in order that I njay try to convince him 
and others that the charge of inefficiency is well founded I am 
going to put in the Record one more of the numerous letters that 
have come to Senators on the Military Affaii's Committee. I just 
want you to see that what I said awhile ago about the Medical 
Department is absolutely true. They do not give tham com- 
petent assistants ; they do not assign to them men to be trained, 
with the result that a blacksmith, or a carpenter, or a lawyer, 
or anybody else goes into these base hospitals to take care of 
and nurse these young man. 

It does not make any difference that my own party is in 
power. If any other party were in power, and I occupied 
this position, I would show the truth just the same. If these 
conditions can be corrected and these agencies of the Gov- 
ernment made more efficient, the men of the Senate and the 
men of the House who neglect to do it are responsible to a 
higher tribunal, if you please, for the deaths of young men 
whose lives might have been saved if the proper authorities had 
but given this subject the attention that it is receiving at the 
hands of most of the members of the Military Affairs Committee 
at this time. 

Why, my colleagues, this is not a new thing. Great Britain 
went through it. Pick up the paper this morning, and you will 
find the Secretary of the Admiralty, Dr. McNamara, being inter- 
rogated by a Member of Parliament to ascertain the truth with 
reference to the destruction of ships. They are keeping it 
away now from the British public as far as they can, but they 
are compelling them either to remain silent or tell the truth 
with reference to the destruction of human life by submarines. 
Let us turn the sunlight in on this thing, and we need never fear 
but that the American people will rally to the standard and 
follow President Wilson into the thick of the fray wherever 
their services may be needed. 

I am going to read one more letter. I hope you do not think 
I am doing this for sensational purposes. I am doing it to 
illustrate a condition that exists, and a condition that can be 
remedied if they will only try to do it. There is not any reason 
why these things can not be remedied or have not been done. 

One of the members of the committee hands me this letter. 
I might have gone over to my private files and gotten more 
of them; but this was handed to me, and I thougbt I would 
just call j^our attention to it. 

Dear Sir and Friend : As you know, I have recently lost a son 

Mr. STONE. Who was that? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN, One of the members of the Military 
Affairs Committee. I can show the Senator a great many more, 
addressed to me, if he wants them. 

Mr. STONE. The Senator did not name the member. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Oh, I have no objection to naming 
him. He is one of the most active and best-informed men on 
the committee, and he is a Republican, too. I refer to the 
Senator from New York [Mr. Wadsworth]. It does not make 
any difference to me in this fight what a man's politics are. 

Having told the Senator's name, I do not know whether I 
ought to read the letter. 

Mr. WADSWORTH. I have no objection. 
38227—18146 



35 

Mr. CHA^fBERLAIN. The Senator has no objection? AU 
ng:ht. 1 believe I said that I would not mention the name in 
connection with the letter, but it was delivered to me, at my 
request, because it accompanied other letters of the same char- 
acter that were being read to show the horrors of this situa- 
tion. 



The Hon. 



Dear Sir and Friend • As you know I have reocntly lost a son 

with spiual meningitis at . I am writing to you as one that I 

know to be greatly ir.terested in the welfare of our soldier boys and 
ready to do anything in your power for their well being, and because 
you know me and will know whether to give credit to what I say 

Please know in the very beginning that 1 do nut write to criticise 
the Government in any sense, nor to lay complaint against any one 
in authority. I realize that in the stupenduous task before us as a 
Government, and with the great diversity of interests involved, that 
it is impossible tliat there should not occur some things that should 
be corrected. It is with the hope that I may help somewhat with 
the task before us that 1 lay bare the facts as I found them in 
connection with my son's sickness at 

Through friends entirely independent of the Army officers, and the 
medical staff. I learned of my sou's sickness after lie had been in the 
hospital for six days. With my wife I went immediately to the 

camp, arriving there the morning of . I found mv son 

In the meningitis ward of the base hospital. It was th.> "^i^hth 
day of his sicl<ness. as I was informed by the attending physician 

His mother and I and , . were permitted to see him' 

through a window at the head of his bed. The small room in which 
he was lying contained one other bed on which was a patient : a stove 
in which there appeared to be no fire. The room was not simply un- 
sanitary, it was filthy, beggaring description. The bed on which my 
son was lying was even more filthy than the room. I can not describe 
to you the condition of my sons body. E.xcept to say that n(-it''er 
his liands nor face had been washed in eight days. (The attendant 
admitted this to me.) The reason given iior his' being in this con- 
dition was that he, the attendant, had but one helper in the ward and 
there was 18 cases there at that time. I asked if I might put a nurse 
in there to take care of him and the physician said that could not be 
allowed. I offered to put in a trained nurse and pay all expenses. 

I then asked if I myself might be allowed to go in and clean him up 
and take care of him. The physician, very kindly 'n manner h'1 of the 
time, said that it could not be. I thet» asked if I would bring clean 
clothes for him if they would clean him up and put them on him so that 
his mother might see him again and not have to remember him in the 
plight she ha<l .just seen him. They said they would gladly do so. I 

went to and got clean clothes, and when I returned they had 

made some effort to wash his face and hands, although they were still 
grimy and black. His clothes were changed, his bed straight 'n^d <.ut, 
and his mother was called to see him again. There was no change 
made in the condition of the room. Before leaving T again made a i)lea 
to be permitted to care for him, gladly taking all risk, but the rules were 
inflexible, I could not be admitted in any way. The attending physician 
was kind to us and I do not wish to imply that he was in any way to 
blame. He told us, however, as we were about to leave that we should 
not return for three or four days. To this order I had no intention of 
giving heed, neither did I. His mother did not see hiin again. T'^e next 

morning early his father-in-law , of , went to the ward. 

while the mercury was done about zero there was no fire in the room, 
the bedding was on the floor, the boy lay on the l)ed naked with the 
exception of a thin night shirt that was up around his neck. 

About 3 o'clock that afternoon I found him in the same c-mdition and 
the room without fire. The next morning at altout 8 o'clock we found 
him in practically the same condition. No one knew of our visits to 
the hospital except two workmen, who were working on the sewer ditch 
in front of the hospital. To them I made myself known and the pur- 
pose of my going to the hospital. I refer now. of course, to the visits we 
made after we were instructed not to visit the hospital. On neither of 
these visits was there an attendant in the room or Are in t'e stove. A 
perfectly well man would have become sick in that room. The mercury 
was around zero all of the time. 

At this time I went direct to the chief of the medical staff and told 
him the situation and asked to be permitted to go and attend my boy. 
38227—18146 



36 

He immediately gave orders that 1 be admitted and be given every fa- 
cility for caring for my son. I went at once, but I was too late, as he 
died about 15 minutes after I got into the ward and before I was per- 
mitted to do anything for him. 

That you may know something of the fearful handicap that the Gov- 
ernment works under in the matter of competent help, I give you this 
one instance 

Now. I want you to note this : 

I requested the attendant to give ray son a drink of water. He went 
out and brought in a small bowl of water, and tried to get son tO' 
drink from it, but he could not. He said I guess that I had better 
get a funnel. (The boy was lying on his back with his mouth open.) 
He came back in a moment with a funnel made of a piece of news 
paper, and, putting it in my son's mouth, was in the act of pouring 
the bowl of water into my son's throat when I stopped him. He said 
What shall I do? I said get a spoon. The poor fellow had not thought 
of that. My son died in a few moments. 

I at once hastened to the office of the adjutant, and asked for the- 
body, and was very courteously treated and assured that I could have- 
the body that evening. I then hastened back to the ward where my 
son died to see how the body was prepared for burial, and, as I had: 
my pass into the building, I did not stop and knock but opened the- 
door to enter when it struck something that would not let it open 
further. I looked and saw that it was my son's body lying on the- 
floor of the hall, and it was his head that I struck with the' door. 

I received every possible courtesy from the officers and medicaU 
attendants at the base hospital. I am not now filing any complaint: 
against any man. I have no other purpose in giving you these facts: 
than to get you to do your utmost to see that these boys of ours who are 
yet to die at these camps may have the care that every true man wishes-- 
that they might have There are at least four witn^^sses to most all 
of tho facts that I have written here who will be willing to testify- 
to the truth of them if it would be the means of helping the authorities^ 
to bring about better conditions 

I trust, , that you will believe me when I say that I 

am not in any sense seeking revenge for the death of my son. If Ini 
his dying he is the means of securing better attention for the many 
boys that are yet to suffer and die in these camps, I shall feel that 
his death was not in vain. Wishing for you success in your endeavors, 
for humanity, 1 am. 

Sincerely, your friend, 



I read this because I want you to see the patriotic spirit in the- 
hearts of this people, notwithstanding these things exist, which 
should be remedied. 

Mr. TILLMAN. Who wrote that? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. I will show it to the Senator con- 
fidentially. 

Mr. TILLMAN. It ought to be given to the country. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. President. I want everyone to 
know that I am speaking fro- . the record of things and not in- 
dulging in any camouflage when my country's fate is at stake. I 
have put these letters in the Rkcord, horrible as they are, simply 
because I want to arouse the people of this country so that every 
mother and every father who has sent a son to this Army, whether 
as a volunteer or as a drafted man, will write to the President 
of the United States and to Members of Congress from their 
respective districts in the same patriotic spirit in which these 
two letters are written, when those sons have died of neglect, 
not for revenge, not to punish anybody connected with this great 
Military Establishment in this crisis that confronts us, but in 
order that the fate of a beloved son or brother or husband, 
if you please, may arouse the attention of the country to the 
necessities of the occasion and save the lives of young men who 
are valuable units for the salvation and protection of America. 

Mr. President, I have talked longer thnn I intended. I could 
not in one day strike bottom with the evidence we have showing^^ 
38227—18146 



37 

inefficiency, and I am saying this witliout any unkind feeling 
toward Secretary Baker. Wlien tliese measures come up for 
consideration, if the Senate wants to go into it more fully, tlie 
testimony will be printed, and I tliink if Senators want to act 
on their own judgment rather than because the Commander in 
Ohief of the Army and Navy wants a thing to be done, I can 
convince them these laws ought to be passed. 

I realize that we ought not to cripple the hand of the Presi- 
dent. There is not anybody who wants to do that, but no man's 
judgment is as good as the concrete judgment of America. I 
■do not care who he may be and how great he may be, he can 
not know as much as the world knows. I know how busy the 
President is, and I want to help him. God knows I would do 
anything to help him, notwithstanding the opinion lie has of 
ane as expressed in his public statement, and I believe I can say 
Tvithout egotism that no man has tried harder to help him in 
everything that he has desired for the proper conduct of this 
"war tlian I. I have not done it because it was his or any man's 
policy. I have done it because America was at war and tliese 
things appealed to me as being right, and because I thought the 
"Country needed them. T voted to sustain the coal order the 
other day, although I thoaght it was a foolish order made by 
IMr. Garfield. I "oted for it on the theory that I wanted to lielp 
.-save the youn^ lives of America and our allies in France. The 
evidence before the committee shows that at the time the order 
^was made there were over 127 vessels in the harbor of Njw York 
loaded with supplies for the allies, and they could not get coal 
to send them out. That is the reason why I voted to sustain 
that order. 

My friends, if there had been any program in this war ; if 
there liad been any plan laid out for the conduct of this war the 
coal situation never would have happened, and that is what I am 
complaining of. That is why our committee proposes in one of 
its bills to have a war cabinet that can map out a program or 
policy under the sole direction and authority of the President 
ior six months, or any length of time, as any business man 
would do. In this great business establishment of ours, be- 
cause war is a great business proposition now, why has not 
:some plan been worked out, and I challenge the production of a 
plan or a program. There is not anybody connected with the 
establishment who has time to do it. The distinguished Presi- 
•dent of the United States could not do it if he tried, because he 
Ihas more to do now than he can possibly attend to. The war 
cabinet of Great Britain do not do anything else than is indi- 
cated in the bill which the committee has prepared. 

I think there was one thing in the statement I made in New 
Tork to the effect that the Military Establishment had almost 
■ceased functioning. That is a pretty broad charge. I repeat 
the charge, and as evidence of it I call your attention to this 
fact: There was a Quartermaster General's Department that 
Ihad $800,000,000 to expend for supplies for the Government. 
It, practically under the instruction of the distinguished Sec- 
retary of War, turned the whole thing over to a distinguished 
retired merchant or manufacturer of worsted goods — I think 
iiis business was at Cleveland, Ohio — and the Quartermaster 
•General's Department has simply been a rubber-stamp proposi- 
tion since war was declared. If turning over the functions of 
this great office to a civilian merchant was not a ce-^-sation of 
38227—18146 



38 

functioning on the part of tlie Government, wliat in Heaven's 
name would you call it? This agent made the contracts to be 
signed by the Quartermaster General, lie prepared for the manu- 
facture of the commodities, bought the goods, and presented 
them to the Quartermaster General for distribution, and that is 
all. I felt sorry for the Quartermaster General. Not only did 
they do that, but they took the soldiers' overcoats that were 100 
per cent wool, even then lighter than the British and the French, 
and reduced the woolen content to 65 per cent wool and 3.5 
per cent of shoddy or reworked wool, and then they got along so 
nicely with that they reduced the wool content of soldiers' over- 
coats to 50 per cent of wool and 50 per cent of shoddy or re- 
worked goods. 

Mr. THOMAS. What is the name of the man ? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. Eisenman. I have no cvitic'sm 
of Mr. Eisenman. No matter what people may say ab'ut him 
he has done or tried to do a patriotic work. He may be criti- 
cized about very many things, but I think he has done fairly 
well. What I am getting at just now is not what he has done, 
but the surrender of this function by the Quartermaster Depart- 
ment to an individual. 

The answer to that was that it Avas to conserve wool. There 
may be a woolen shortage, but Prance has not found it necessary 
to conserve wool in that way. If anybody has got to wear 
shoddy it ought to be the civilian who stays at home, and we 
should give the soldier the best uniform it is possible to make in 
America. If there must be a shortage of provisions let the 
civilian who stays at home go short and hungry, but feed the 
soldier who is to carry the gun. That may be a wrong con- 
ception of duty, but that is the way it appeals to me. 

Mr. President, I wish to give another indication of inefficiency, 
and I want you to understand I am not doing this in any spirit 
of unfriendliness to the Secretary of War. He has been my 
personal friend. I am only doing it because I feel it is my duty. 
As another evidence of inefficiency the woolgrowers of the West 
came here last April, I think, shortly after the war broke out,, 
and offered to furnish the Government with the clip of that 
year. The Government did not take it because they thought 
the price charged was too high, and possibly the growers were 
charging a pretty good price. It was a little below or about 
the current market price, but the authorities would not take it. 
Later on they came here again and offered it and the authorities 
would not take it. Later on we made contracts for large quanti- 
ties of wool, but wool had then gone up to a very high figure. 

Now, Mr. President, anybody would have known, it seems to 
me, any efficient business man must have known, that to clothe 
a million and a half men or possibly two million men we would 
have to buy every pound of wool possible and manufacture it into 
clothing. Yet it went into the hands of speculators and dealers, 
and when the Government got ready to buy, it had to buy at a 
high price. I think all will agree with me that while there has: 
been great work performed there has been uiuch left undone 
that might have been done if efficient methods had been im 
vogue in the War Department. 

Now, we have only investigated two great departments, but 
we are going to investigate others. Notwithstanding some may 
object to our making these investigations, we feel that it ought 

to be done. The President says in his statement 

38227—18146 



39 

Mr. VARDAMAN. May I ask the Senator a question? 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Oregon 
yield to the Senator from Mississipj)!? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. I wouhl very nnicJi rather not yield. 

Mr. VARDAMAN. I merely wish to ask the Senator who fixes 
the weight of the textiles worn? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. It has been determined in these cases 
by Mr. Eisenman in consultation with other members of the 
Council of National Defense, and the Quartermaster General, 
and other officers, but his .iudgment has generally been followed. 

Mr. A^ARDAMAN. Is it lighter tlian it was? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. It is not lighter, but the texture now 
used is not as warm as wool. 

Mr. VARDAMAN. AVhat was the purpose? 

Mr, CHAMBERLAIN. The conservation of wool. I would 
rather have more attention paid to the conservation of life, as 
is done in France and Great Britain. 

A young British officer the other day appeared before our 
committee dressed in a .splendid uniform, a good deal heavier 
in ounces than our uniforms. 

Mr. HITCHCOCK. Po.ssibly the answer of the Senator to 
the question may be misunderstood. I hope he will make it clear 
that the uniforms for our soldiers are made of material which 
is 4 ounces per yard lighter than those worn by the British or 
French soldier. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. That is correct. I stated it in general 
terms, but I did not show the exact difference. I am glad the 
Senator gave it. 

Now, air. President, let me call attention to what the Presi- 
dent says in his jiublic statement: 

There have been clela.vs and disappointments and partial miscarriages 
or plans, all of which have been drawn into the foreground and exag- 
gerated by the investi>;ations which have been in progress since the 
Congress assembled — investigations which drew indispensable officials 
of the department constantl.v away from their work and officers from 
their commands and contributed a great deal to such delay and confu- 
sion as had inevitably arisen. But, by comparison with what has been 
accomplished, these things, much as they were to be regretted, were 
insignificant, and no mistake has been made which has been repeated 

Nothing helpful or likely to speed or facilitate the war tasks of the 
Government has come out of such criticism and investigation. I under- 
stand that reorganizations by legislation are to be proposed — I have not 
been consulted about them and have learned of them only at second 
hand — but their proposal came after effective measures of reorganiza- 
tion had been thoughtfully and maturely perfected, and inasmuch as 
these measures have been the result of experience, they are much more 
likely than any others to be effective, if the Congress will but remove 
the few statutory obstacles of rigid departmental organization which 
stand in their way. 

Now, with all due respect for the President of the United 
States, he serves notice on Congress that they had no business 
meddling witli this affair either by investigation or legislation. 
If the Senate of the United States feels it to be its duty to go 
into an investigation, it must not do so unless its course meets 
the smile of Executive favor. Now. I differ radically and e.ssen- 
tially from that view. We are a great coordinate part of this 
Government; and I am going to take the liberty of calling the 
attention of my Democratic friends to a Democrat of days gone 
by, a leader who dared to protest against Executive interfer- 
ence with congressional action. Wlien I become a rubber stamp 
in the discharge of my duty I shall get out of the Senate and 
out of public 'ife and let some one more subservient take my 

38227—18146 



40 

place. You will remember. Senators, that there was on one 
occasion another Democrat in the Senate, who was appointed 
the leader of his party, when there was a Democrat in the White 
House. You remember when the famous AVilson bill was up for 
consideration it did not meet with Executive favor as it passed 
this body, and the President wrote a pretty stiff letter while 
the bill was in conference between the two bodies upbraiding 
Congress for what it had done. 

That letter was read into the Congressional Record by Mr. 
Wilson, who was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee 
of the House, and although he had been in conference according 
to the Record with his comembers, the first time any of them 
saw it was when it was printed in the Record or possibly 
printed in a paper. Now, here is what Senator Arthur Pue 
Gorman, of Maryland, said about that letter. I have not in- 
dulged in any such hostile criticism as tliis, both because I have 
too luuch respect for the great office he holds, and further be- 
cause I am in perfect sympathy with all the President wants to 
do in prosecuting this war. I want to help him. There is no 
anger in my heart and no malice. I want my friends to dis- 
tinctly understand that. I would go to the White House at any 
hour of the day or night to help the President win this war 
and discuss any proposition that might come up, no matter what 
he thinlis of me. I place my country above all other considera- 
tions. 

Here is what Mr. Gorman said on the occasion referred to : 
As I have said, sir, this is a most extraordinary proceeding for a 
Democrat, elected to the highest place in the Government, and fellow 
Democrat in another high place, where they have the right to speak 
and legislate generally, to join with the commune in traducing the 
Senate of the United States, to blacken the characters of Senators who 
are as honorable as they are, who are as patriotic as they ever can 
be, who have done as much to serve their party as the men who are 
now the beneficiaries of your labor and mine, to taunt and jeer at us 
before the country as the advocates of trusts and as guilty of dishonor 
and perfidy. 

Mr. President, it is time to speak. The limit of endurance has been 
reached. The Senate owes it to itself. Every Senator here who is a 
part of this Democratic majority owes it to himself. There is no 
power, no matter how great, in this country, even the President with 
his patronage, that would keep me silent longer under the charges, under 
the imputations so freely made from such distinguished quaVters. I 
hurl back the accusation — 

Says Senator Gorman — 
and say that this treatment of their lellows is dii^creditab.e. It is 
destructive to the Government that men in high position shi uld attempt 
to lower this body, a conservative body, consisting, when full, of 88 
worthy representatives of States. . 

No man can reach here by devious ways and remain lone. J he 
Senate is composed of men who represent the best thought of the 
country men who have stood and battled for tarifE reform when those in 
higher places dared not show their heads ; men who, when another 
place was overrun and those in it had not the courage to stand and 
fight a tyrant, stood here at the risk of health, at the risk of fortune, 
of all that is dear, and saved the liberties of the country. Then these 
traducers of the Senate could not be seen. We will not be traduced 
longer, Mr. President, the facts must come. 

I glory in the spirit that was shown by Senator Goi'man. I 
o-'cupy a little different position. This charge by our distin- 
guished President has not been hurled at the Senate; it is 
hurled at my devoted head. I am only one of 96; I am only 
a unit in this body ; but above and over it all is a great prin- 
ciple that the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, and the 
country at large ought to stand for. It may be me to-day ; it 
uiay be the Senate to-morrow, or any or some individual Mem- 
38227—18146 



41 

ber; it may come in five years when somebody else is in the 
Senate; it does not make any difference who that person may 
be; I insist upon the principle, not because I have been assailed; 
that this body as a coordinate branch of the Government has 
a right to speak as it pleases as to conditions. The Senate 'nin 
investigate any man or any set of men that it sees tit to investi- 
gate, and do it at its own sweet will without suggestion and 
without let or hindrance. If the Senate will only assert that 
right once, then we will not be troubled with th's condition 
very often in the future. The Senate ought to assert its dignity 
and its part and parcel in this great governmental machined 

Now, let us go back a little longer and see what other great 
men in this country thought about Executive interference with 
legislative business, because, with all due respect to the Presi- 
dent, that is what the statement quoted means, that we are in- 
terfering by these investigations and hindering the proper con- 
duct of the war. 

Here is what Senator Blackburn read into the Record while 
this discussion was on, and, by the way, let me say that two <lis- 
tinguished Senators from the South, Senator Vest, of ]\Iissouri, 
and Senator Jones, of Arkansas, took the .same position. God 
bless them ! May sweet memories of them long linger around 
these sacred halls and may their spirits animate the Senate in 
the discharge of its duty during the whole conduct of this war. 

Senator Blackburn read this into the Record from an old fogy 
of the days gone by. but he had some part to play and played it 
gallantly in the early days of the Republic. Mr. Blackburn 
read this from Washington's Farewell Address: 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in n free loini- 
try should ln^^pi^e caution in those intrusted with its administration 
to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, 
avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach 
upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the 
powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever 
the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that 
love of power and pi-oneness to abu.se it. which predominate in the 
human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. 

The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power. 
by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constitut- 
ing each the guardian of the public weal against invasions of the other, 
has been evinced by experiments, ancient and modern — some of them 
in our country, and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as 
necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the 
distril)ution or modificatiou of the constitutional powers be in any 
particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way in 
which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by 
usurpation ; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of 
good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are de- 
stroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in p rmanent 
evil any partial or transient benetit which the use can at any time 
yield. 

Senators, I am not resenting the intimation contained in the 
President's statement about these investigations, constituting an 
interference with the prosecution of the war, but I am simply, 
calling the attention of the Senate to the condition that may 
confront them at almost any time. However, is it entirely true 
that this investigation has done no good? Why, Mr. President, 
there has been an attempted reorganization of the military sys- 
tem since we started into it. Of course, it is claimed that the 
reorganization was commenced l^efore we got busy. For in- 
siance. with all due deference to my good friend. Gen. Sharpe, 
who is a splendid man and a patriotic citizen, he was wholly 
unfitted for that job, and he has gone out of it, and they have 
38227—18146 



42 

put Gen. Goethals in. That is a part of the reorganization. 
With all due deference to my friend, Gen. Crozier, who has been 
a gallant soldier and a brilliant man, I think that in these days 
that move so fast, perhaps, he was not quite the man for the 
place, and he was practically taken out of the active control of 
the Ordnance Department, and Gen. Wheeler was put in. 

What else have they done? They have put Mr. Eisenman 
just where he was with the old regime but under Gen. Goethals. 
They have put into the Ordnance Department another distin- 
guished gentleman, Mr. Samuel McRoberts, who is a very able 
man, and I think will possibly help bring order out of chaos. 

Mr. TILLMAN. Will the Senator answer an inquiry? 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Ore- 
gon yield to the Senator from South Carolina? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Yes. 

Mr. TILLMAN. I want to know wh&t the Military Affairs 
Committee was doing while all this mismanagement was go- 
ing on? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. In time of peace? 

Mr. TILLMAN. Oh. no. The War Department has been 
reorganized. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. We are trying now, I will say to the 
Senator from South Carolina, to help out things. I do not want 
to mention any names, but I could mention the names of distin- 
guished Members of the Senate and House who have always 
stood in opposition to a reorganization that was a reorganization 
in fact, and they are doing it now. 

Mr. TILLMAN. I have never opposed a reorganization in 
the War Department, but I do oppose any reorganization of 
the Navy Depr ment 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Well, we have not proposed any such 
reorganization. If the Senator will only take the trouble to 
read the bill which we have here, he will find that it does not 
take an iota of power away from the President. It gives hira 
more. There is no effort being made to create a single organi- 
zation that the President could not control. 

But, getting back to the point I was making, I desire to say 
that this investigation has done good ; it has removed some 
inefficients, and is bringing about some changes in a defective 
oi'ganization. But the Secretary still retains the Council of 
National Defense and its subcommittees as a purchasing or 
some sort of an agency between the President and the Army. 
It has no power, but is simply an advisory body. It can not 
nor can its committees enforce its orders. 

Mr. OWEN. With no statutory power? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. With absolutely none. The Council of 
National Defense is simply an advisory body, that is all ; it has 
no executive power. Those are the boards that are to take 
charge of and handle this new organization. 

I say, instead of having this voluntary organization between 
the President and the Army, they ought to have one strong man 
between the President and the Army completely under the Presi- 
dent's direction and control to handle this whole situation, and 
to utilize whatever organizations are now or may be created by 
order of the President. I merely call your attention to the fact 
that we have done some good. 

Senators, the President says that we have not consulted him 
about this legislation. I am very sorry the President said that. 
38227—18146 



43 

Now, speaking as a Democrat, and not as an American for a 
few moments — [laughter in the galleries! 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Ohuir wishes to admonish 
the occupants of the galleries that any signs of api)roval or dis- 
approval will result in a clearing of the galleries. This is posi- 
tive, and will be done. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. The Senator from Nebraslia [Mr. 
Hitchcock] and I, while these hearings were going on, went 
to the White House and told the President the way things liad 
been developing before the committee and that we thought he 
ought to linow it. We went into it pretty fully. We stayed 
there an hour. I think the President was surprised at some 
of the things we told him ; in fact, he expressed surprise. The 
remedy was the thing that was in our minds. I said that the 
pi-oposition for a director of munitions had been under consid- 
eration by me for a long while; that I had been studying tlie 
British system, and that something like that as a strong in- 
termediary between the President and the Army ought to be a 
remedy for the situation. The conversation was not confidential, 
as I understood. We wei-e simply talking about conditions. I 
would not even refer to it but for the fact that it is charged as to 
our committee— a splendid body of men — that none of them had 
discussed this legislation with the President. The President did 
not approve or disapprove, but he had the information just tha 
same. 

Several days afterwards— I do not know how long— the Presi- 
dent wrote a" letter to me in reference to that Ijill. I would not 
give that letter to the public but for the fact that I am charged 
by the President with a distortion of the truth. Now, I am 
compelled, in defense of my own reputation, as well as in order 
that the ))osition of this committee n)ay be understood, to put 
the letter in the Record, and I am going to do so. The letter 
is as follows : 
(Personal ) The White House, 

Washingtoti, January 11, 1918. 

My Dear Skxator : When you and Senator Hitchcock were at the 
White House the other evening we were discussing various su^gf^tu.us 
of coordination and means of speeding up the military pro^-ramiPe ami 
among other things you told me that ou had in mind a biU for the 
creation of a munitions ministry. ^ ,. * i o„„,.c.h„. 

That, of course, set my mind to work on ^.haj: particuja.^ I^^f-'lar ,",; 
and I fee" - - ■ - - - -- . .^i,-.. 4-i ,., 

my mind. 
For 01 

a dTs^ocation"of "actTvi\'ies"whTch w"ould 'cause delay whefe Ihei- is none 
that is avoidable; and in regard to the Army, I think that not.img suiv 
stantial would be accomplished. Indeed, I believe that delay /ould 
inevitably be produced by such a measure. ^ , , , „ ,„ ,, *,.„ 

I have had in the last few months a great deal of experience ir. tiy 




conduct of business. . , ... . 

Rather intimate information from the other side of the watei con- 
vinces me that the munitions ministries which have been ^e<^ up tnere 
have not fulfilled the expectations of those who advocatt'd them, and 
the structure of those governments is so utterly difEercnt from our own 
that we could not, if we would, create any such parity of power and 
influence between the head of such a bureau and the heads of the perma- 
nent departments as can be created under such political arrangements 

^'in sh^orf my'dea^sSor. my judgment is decidedly that we would 
not only be disappointed in the results, but that to attempt siioh a 
thing would greatly embarrass the processes of coordination and of 
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action upon which I have spent a great deal of thought an^l pains, anJ 
which I believe are more and more rapidly yielding us the results we 
desire. 

I felt that I ought not to keep you in ignorance of what had been 
going on in my mind with regard to this important matter. 
Cordialiy and sincerely yours, 

WoODROw Wilson. 
Hon. George E. Chamberlain, 

United States Senate. 

Was it quite fair for him to charge that he had not been con- 
sulted? 

Mr. JAMES. Mr. President 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Ore- 
gon yield to the Senator from Kentucliy? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. I yield. 

Mr. JAMES. Is it not true that the President when he stated 
that he had not been consulted referred to the " superior war 
cabinet" bill and not to the "munitions ministry" bill? 

'Ir. CHAMBERLAIN. That may be so ; I think it is suscep- 
tible of that construction. 

Mr. JAMES. I will say to the Senator that, hearing on yes- 
terday that he was construing the letter of the President, which 
referred merely to the proposed munitions ministry bill, as a 
reference to the " superior war cabinet " and tlierefore that he 
intended to urge that position as rather questioning the Presi- 
dent's statement, I called up the White House and told the 
President of my information. He sent me a letter which I am 
sure the Senator will not have the slightest objection to being 
read by the Secretary. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. I will be glad to have it go into the 
Recoed. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, the Secre- 
tary will read. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

The White House, 
Washington, Jayxuary 23, 1918. 

My Dear Senator : You have been kind enough to tell me that 
you had heard that I had written a letter to the chairman of the 
Senate Military Affairs Commitee concerning the idea of a munitions 
minister, and you asked me whether I did write such a letter. I did, 
and am glad to send you herewith a copy of it. 

The consultation referred to with Senator Chamberlain, to whom 
the letter is addressed, was upon the subject of the various difficul- 
ties and delays that had been encountered by the War Department, as 
shown by the testimony before the Senate committee, and tlie Senator 
merely mentioned to me that he had a bill in mind to create a muni- 
tions ministry. He gave me no detail of the bill he had in mind, and 
it was only when I learned afterwards from others of the real character 
of the proposals that I felt it my duty to write to the Senator and ap- 
praise him of my attitude. I assumed from what I heard later that 
that particular proposal had been abandoned, and I was referring In 
my statement of the other day to the very surprising proposal to create 
a superior war cabinet of a type unknown to our practice or insti- 
tutions. 

I give you these details merely to reply to your kind inquiry and 
let you know all the facts of the case as you desire. 
Cordially and sincerely, yours, 

WooDROw Wilson. 

Hon. Ollie M. James, 

United States Senate. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. I am very glad, indeed, to have tliat 
go into the Record. The letter practically states the facts. 
The letter to me states them just as clearly, because it mentions 
the same proposal for the creation of a director of munitions, 

Mr. JAMES. But it is true, I believe the Senator in perfect 
fairness to the President would like to say, that the President's 
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45 

statement that he was not consulted about the " superior w.ir 
cabinet '' bill was true. He was not consulted about that, was 
he? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Well, that is subject to some qualifica- 
tions. Without questionins the statement of the President, let 
me tell you what happened. The Military Affairs Committee 
on Friday appointed the Senator from Nebraska |Mr. Hitch- 
cock] as a committee of one to go down and confer with the 
Secretary of War, which he did. Whether the President was 
infoi-nied about it or not, I do not know. 

Mr. JAMES. Is is quite fair, does the Senator think, to charge 
the President with having infoi-mation that was given by a 
Senator to a member of his Cabinet? Probably the Cabinet had 
not met and the matter had never been discussed. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. I did not intend to be understood as 
questioning the veracity of the President in any way ; I am 
only stating what did happen. 

Mr. .TAIMES. I feel sure the Senator did not; but I believe 
that, upon second thought, the Senator will realize when he 
reads the letter the President directed to him, together with 
the letter directed to me, they make it perfectly clear that the 
President is absolutely right in his statement that he was not 
consulted. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. President, will the Senator yield to 
me for a moment? 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. I really should like to go on. 

Mr. WILLIAMS. The President said that he had informa- 
tion about the war-cabinet bill, but that he got it secondhand. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. Let us not be misunderstood about 
it. Here is the President's language in his publislied statement: 

I understand that reorganizations by legislation are to be proposed. 
I have not been consulted about them and have learned of them only 
at secondhand. 

I do not know whether that is broad enough to include the 
munitions bill or not; but that is the language used. I am 
just stating my version of it. It goes to the country just the 
same that I was trying to " put over " something on the President 
without letting him know anything about it; that is all. I 
do not want that impression to go out. I am not questioning the 
veracity of the President, even if mine has been questioned. 

There is nnich that I might say, but only one thing I want to 
say in conclusion. The President in his statement says that: 

To add, as Senator Chamberlain did, that there is inefficiency in every 
department and bureau of the Government is to show such ignorance 
of actual conditions as to make it impossible to attach any importance 
to his statement. 

As I undertook to show the President in my letter, I was 
referring to the Military Establishment only in my impeach- 
ment, and my audience understood that I was referring to the 
Military Establishment. I did not want it imderstood that I 
impeached the efficiency of every department of the Government. 
The statement was really a little bi'oader in that regard than I 
would have made it if I had sat down and had written the 
speech. I would have confined it to the War Department. It 
was a sweeping statement, impusively and impetuously made, 
and intended by me to include only the Military Establishment. 
I think I tried to explain that it was too sweeping, and now in 
this public manner I state that I did not intend to impeach the 

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efficiency of all the departments of the Government. I was in 
no position to do tliat. I had uoi investigated as to all, but I 
intended to impeach, and I do impeach, the efficiency of the 
Military Establishment, and I think I have shown enough to 
sustain my charge of inefficiency. 

Now, it is said we have not done any good. Let me tell you 
that that very statement of inefficiency has done some good, 
not only as regasxls the War Depa'-tment, as stated by me 
a while ago, but it has speeded up at least one other department. 
My good friend Secretary Redfield, very courteously inclosed 
me this letter. I will not have it read but I will put it in the 
Record, to show that my statement induced the Secretary to 
appeal to his whole office force to try to speed up and do better, 
so that the charge of inefficiency might not rest on them. I 
admire the spirit in which Secretary Redfield took my sugges- 
tion. It was a suggestion made to help and not to hurt. I ask 
that Secretary Redfield's letter be inserted ir the Record at 
this point. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. In the absence of objection, 
it is so ordered. 

The letter referred to is as follows : 

"Thrive by Thrift, But War Savings Stamps" 
Department of Commerce, 

Office of the Secretary, 
Washington, January 23, 1918. 
My Dear Senator : The letter of which the inclosed is a copy has 
been handed each member of the department's force in Washington and 
placed by publication before its force throughout the country. 
Yours, very truly, 

William C. Rbdf/eld, 

Secretary. 
Hon. George E. Chamberlain, 

United States Senate, Washington, D. G. 

Department of Commerce, 

Office of the Secretary, 
Washington, January 21, 1918. 
To the officers and workers in the Department of Commerce: 

United States Senator George E. Chamberlain, chairman of the Sen- 
ate Committee on Military Affairs, is reported through the press to have 
said on the 19th instant, in an address before the National Security 
League ; 

" The irilitary establishment of America has ■ fallen down * * « 
it has almost stopped functioning * * * because ot inefficiency 
IN EVERY BUREAU and IN EVERY DEPARTMENT of the Government 
of the United States." 

The emphasis is mine. 

We in this department form no part of the military establishment, 
though in every branch we are in full cooperation with it. We are in- 
cluded, however, under the charge that inefficiency " in EVERY bureau ' 
and " in EVERY department " has led to the result said to exist. If it 
exists it is said to be at least in part our fault. All departments, all 
bureaus, are sentenced together. Such a statement from such a source 
must (if we may assume it to be correctly reported), be given weight. 
It is either true or false as regards ourselves. What lesson • can we 
learn from it? 

Candidly I had not believed any such sweeping condemnation could 
be justly made of our mutual service. Tbe words of cordinl praise that 
comes often unsolicited from many sides about every one of our services, 
the commendation of the business and industrial world, the noble spirit 
of self-sacrifice so freely shown by you in many forms, the known and 
definite results of our common efforts, the constant touch with all our 
work that you know it is my pleasure and privilege to try to maintain, 
these and what I had permitted myself to think ,30 years of industrial 
and executive experience had taught me had led to the belief that in 
this department, so far as tbe law and the funds at our disi>osal permit, 
we have on the whole a highly effective organization even when judged 
by severe standards of industrial practice. Nor, let me say in justice to 
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47 

you, am I aware that any extornal inquiry into the worl? of the de- 
partment has been made upon which to base a charge to the contrary 
effect. We are, as you linow, constantly studying our work in all its 
forms with a view to its improvement. 

But this is beside the mark. Our work, if good, will speak for itself. 
We have neither duty nor right of solf-prai.se. What I ask you, every 
one of you, to consider for yourself is whether this charge "is true of 
you, of your division or bureau, of your part, whatev'er it be, in 
our common work. For now more than ever must we do our work 
well. The slacker in work, if such there bo. plays Germany's game. 
Inefficiency is a sin against your countiy. Red tape, unless required 
by law, is an offense against patriotism. Let us speak plainly. If 
inefficiency exists it must cease or the ineffective ones must go. This 
is no hour for hesitanc.v about persons. 

But having thus in all seriousness said, let me add in conclusion 
that I fully believe the (irm confidence I hold in you is for sufficient 
cause and will be more than justified by the high effectiveness of your 
service. 

Yours, very truly, 

William C. Redpield, 

.SVcretarr/. 

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. God knows I liave tried my very best 
to do things iiere to help speed tlie work of preparation for tliis 
war, not as a Democrat, but because my heart was in it and 
because I believe it was right to do so. I have frequently done 
things in opposition to members of my own party and in opposi- 
tion to many distinguished men on the Republican side, but 
together we have tried to improve the Military Establishment. 

The last suggestion of the President in liis cliarge against 
me isf 

I am bound to infer that that statement sprang out of opposition 
to the administration's whole policy rather than out of any serious 
Intention to reform its practice. 

Et tu, Brute ! That is " the unkindest cut of all." My col- 
leagues, I have stood here in season and out of season to get 
through nearly every piece of military legislation that has been 
put on the statute books in the past three years and that my 
friend Baker uow boasts of and that the President is proud of, 
with what success I leave to the Senate and to the country to 
judge. I have taken charge of other measures here. I do not 
claim any credit for that ; I give my colleagues equal credit for 
these things ; but I happened to represent the committees on 
the floor, and I worked most assiduously all the time. I will 
say this, however, that I have not stood for any measure be- 
cause it was any man's measure; I have stood for it because it 
was for America, to assist her in this crisis that now confronts 
her. That is why I have done it. 

I am not opposed to the President's policies. I was born in a 
country where Democrats were indigenous to the soil. I took 
my politics west with me 42 years ago, to a State which wa§ 
Republican when I first went there and has been ever since. I 
have been a Democrat all the time, and I am a Democrat now ; 
but I have some convictions about these matters and other pub- 
lic questions. When I have supported all these measures I have 
done it because I thought they were right and not because I 
got orders from anywhere. 

I have differed from the President on a number of ocrrt«ions, 
and I have not hesitated to do so. I differed from the Presi- 
dent when the Panama tolls question was under consideration ; 
I differed very radically from him and did all in the world I 
could to keep the measure for the repeal of the Panama free- 
tolls act of 1912, advocated by him, off the statute books not 
only because it was contrary to our platform of 1912 but 
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because I did not consider it right. I have differed with our 
distinguished Executive on a number of nominations which 
he has sent here; but nearly all of the policies he advocates are 
Democratic, and nearly all the policies that he has ./roDosed I 
have stood for. I think you will find that in very few ins^-ince.s 
have I separated from Democratic colleagues; and when I have 
done so it has been because I felt I was right. I will say that 
frequently I have followed my colleagues and followed the Presi- 
dent on matters of policy when I thought they were all wroL'g; 
bur I did it just the same. However, whenever it ■.•oines to a 
question wliere a principle is involved and my conscience is 
enlisted. I follow no man ; I follow my conscience. I an doing 
that to-day, my colleagues, when I am undertaking lo call the 
attention of the country to the dangers that confront Ani'^'Hca. 

In God's name, are we going to get over to France? Within 
10 months after the war broke out Canada had her gallant sons 
in the trenches assisting in some of the most desperate battles 
of the war. With her sparse settlements, with her lack of 
wealth as compared to that of the United States, she got her 
brave boys — and they are practically Americans, my friends — 
over there; but America can not get there. Where is the 
trouble? Mr. President, if we do not get there, and get there 
quickly, it may be too late to go, and, as my good friend the 
Senator from Iowa [Mr. Kenyon] said here the other day, it 
would be better for a man to lose his life and to see his -family 
die than to see the Teiaton invade America. 

You Senators know that there are soldiers along the Atlantic 
seaboard who ought to have gone to France six weeks or two 
months ago. They do not go. Why is it? At Mineola there 
were a lot of Oregon and other brave boys who went from a 
southern encampment to that bleak and barren place, and where 
some of them were kept for over a month in extremely cold 
weather, not sufficiently clad, and without the comforts that 
camp life ought to have furnished them, waiting to get over. 
There must be something wrong somewhere. 

If America is going to play any part in this war, she will have 
to get at it pretty soon. France is expecting us and the other 
allies are expecting us, and it seems to me, Mr. President, that 
the only way to speed up our preparations, the only way to get 
"over there," is to arouse America to the necessity of the time 
and the danger of the crisis. When once aroused I have no fear 
but that America will rise in her might and furnish an example 
of sacrifice, of courage, and of patriotism that will make the 
brightest pages of our history pale into insignificance as com- 
pared with the fighting of our boys on foreign soil. 

Mr. President and Senators. I apologize for having taken up 
so much of your time. You can realize that my reputation is 
' all I have, and the love that my family and my friends have for 
me at home. With that reputation destroyed and that love 
gone, life would have no attraction for me ; with my reputation 
assailed, with my country in danger, I know that you will ex- 
cuse me for having trespassed so long on your time and pa- 
tience ; and believe me when I tell you that there is no man 
here to-day and there is no man in America who would go to 
the relief of President Wilson more quickly than I in our coun- 
try's crisis, although I feel I have been so grossly maligned by 
him. I thank the Senate. 
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